Marshall County vs Preston County

A side-by-side comparison of Marshall County and Preston County: population, income, housing, and more.

Marshall County and Preston County are counties in West Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Preston County has the higher population (34,204 vs 30,129 in Marshall County). Preston County has the higher median household income ($61,373 vs $60,329 in Marshall County). Preston County has the higher median home value ($157,700 vs $139,800 in Marshall County).

Population, income & housing

	Marshall County	Preston County
Population	30,129	34,204
Median age	46.2 yrs	43.2 yrs
Median household income	$60,329	$61,373
Median home value	$139,800	$157,700
Median gross rent	$823	$753
Housing units	14,736	15,215
Homeownership rate	79.0%	80.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.1%	17.9%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Marshall County	Preston County
Population	31,308 → 30,129 (-3.8%)	33,683 → 34,204 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$48,557 → $60,329 (+24.2%)	$51,888 → $61,373 (+18.3%)
Median home value	$109,300 → $139,800 (+27.9%)	$115,300 → $157,700 (+36.8%)
Median gross rent	$630 → $823 (+30.6%)	$666 → $753 (+13.1%)

Marshall County

Population

31,30830,129

Median household income

$48,557$60,329

Median home value

$109,300$139,800

Median gross rent

$630$823

Preston County

Population

33,68334,204

Median household income

$51,888$61,373

Median home value

$115,300$157,700

Median gross rent

$666$753

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Marshall County	Preston County
Under 5	4.4%	4.6%
5 to 17	14.7%	13.3%
18 to 24	6.4%	6.6%
25 to 34	11.6%	14.6%
35 to 44	11.4%	13.8%
45 to 54	13.1%	13.4%
55 to 64	15.2%	13.7%
65 to 74	14.2%	12.4%
75 and over	9.0%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Marshall County	Preston County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.9%	89.3%
Black or African American	0.3%	6.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.4%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.4%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	1.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Marshall County	Preston County
No high school diploma	7.3%	14.2%
High school graduate	43.4%	45.7%
Some college or associate's	30.2%	22.2%
Bachelor's degree	12.2%	11.6%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	6.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Marshall County	Preston County
Drove alone	82.5%	75.8%
Carpooled	10.5%	14.9%
Public transit	0.2%	0.1%
Walked	2.0%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.0%	7.2%
Other means	0.9%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Marshall County	Preston County
1-unit, detached	82.0%	74.9%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	1.0%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	3.1%
5 to 19 units	1.9%	3.5%
20 or more units	0.7%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	8.3%	16.5%

Poverty & households

	Marshall County	Preston County
Poverty rate	15.0%	14.1%
Average household size	2.35	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	25	31
Median year structure built	1960	1982