McDowell County vs Taylor County

A side-by-side comparison of McDowell County and Taylor County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

McDowell County has the higher population (18,413 vs 16,543 in Taylor County). Taylor County has the higher median household income ($56,807 vs $29,980 in McDowell County). Taylor County has the higher median home value ($144,000 vs $49,200 in McDowell County).

Population, income & housing

	McDowell County	Taylor County
Population	18,413	16,543
Median age	43.6 yrs	44.2 yrs
Median household income	$29,980	$56,807
Median home value	$49,200	$144,000
Median gross rent	$686	$672
Housing units	9,380	7,440
Homeownership rate	75.7%	82.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	5.7%	17.4%
Unemployment rate	14.9%	9.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	McDowell County	Taylor County
Population	18,661 → 18,413 (-1.3%)	16,864 → 16,543 (-1.9%)
Median household income	$27,682 → $29,980 (+8.3%)	$48,578 → $56,807 (+16.9%)
Median home value	$35,000 → $49,200 (+40.6%)	$107,000 → $144,000 (+34.6%)
Median gross rent	$575 → $686 (+19.3%)	$652 → $672 (+3.1%)

McDowell County

Population

18,66118,413

Median household income

$27,682$29,980

Median home value

$35,000$49,200

Median gross rent

$575$686

Taylor County

Population

16,86416,543

Median household income

$48,578$56,807

Median home value

$107,000$144,000

Median gross rent

$652$672

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	McDowell County	Taylor County
Under 5	4.2%	4.7%
5 to 17	14.3%	15.6%
18 to 24	6.2%	6.4%
25 to 34	13.1%	12.1%
35 to 44	13.6%	12.3%
45 to 54	12.6%	13.6%
55 to 64	14.3%	14.4%
65 to 74	14.0%	12.7%
75 and over	7.7%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	McDowell County	Taylor County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.7%	95.0%
Black or African American	9.0%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.0%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	1.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	McDowell County	Taylor County
No high school diploma	24.1%	13.6%
High school graduate	52.7%	42.8%
Some college or associate's	17.4%	26.2%
Bachelor's degree	4.3%	10.7%
Graduate or professional degree	1.5%	6.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	McDowell County	Taylor County
Drove alone	80.3%	76.8%
Carpooled	12.1%	14.6%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.9%	6.2%
Other means	0.5%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	McDowell County	Taylor County
1-unit, detached	70.3%	77.2%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	2.4%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	0.8%	5.5%
20 or more units	1.1%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	23.7%	13.2%

Poverty & households

	McDowell County	Taylor County
Poverty rate	30.9%	14.7%
Average household size	2.51	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	35	25
Median year structure built	1959	1979