McDowell County vs Wyoming County

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

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

Wyoming County has the higher population (20,948 vs 18,413 in McDowell County). Wyoming County has the higher median household income ($48,038 vs $29,980 in McDowell County). Wyoming County has the higher median home value ($78,400 vs $49,200 in McDowell County).

Population, income & housing

	McDowell County	Wyoming County
Population	18,413	20,948
Median age	43.6 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$29,980	$48,038
Median home value	$49,200	$78,400
Median gross rent	$686	$737
Housing units	9,380	9,975
Homeownership rate	75.7%	83.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	5.7%	12.0%
Unemployment rate	14.9%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	McDowell County	Wyoming County
Population	18,661 → 18,413 (-1.3%)	21,281 → 20,948 (-1.6%)
Median household income	$27,682 → $29,980 (+8.3%)	$42,332 → $48,038 (+13.5%)
Median home value	$35,000 → $49,200 (+40.6%)	$71,500 → $78,400 (+9.7%)
Median gross rent	$575 → $686 (+19.3%)	$679 → $737 (+8.5%)

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

Wyoming County

Population

21,28120,948

Median household income

$42,332$48,038

Median home value

$71,500$78,400

Median gross rent

$679$737

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	McDowell County	Wyoming County
Under 5	4.2%	4.6%
5 to 17	14.3%	15.8%
18 to 24	6.2%	7.0%
25 to 34	13.1%	10.6%
35 to 44	13.6%	11.5%
45 to 54	12.6%	13.5%
55 to 64	14.3%	14.1%
65 to 74	14.0%	15.0%
75 and over	7.7%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	McDowell County	Wyoming County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.7%	96.8%
Black or African American	9.0%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.0%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	0.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	McDowell County	Wyoming County
No high school diploma	24.1%	22.0%
High school graduate	52.7%	45.7%
Some college or associate's	17.4%	20.3%
Bachelor's degree	4.3%	6.3%
Graduate or professional degree	1.5%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	McDowell County	Wyoming County
Drove alone	80.3%	88.5%
Carpooled	12.1%	4.6%
Public transit	0.1%	0.6%
Walked	1.1%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.9%	3.6%
Other means	0.5%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	McDowell County	Wyoming County
1-unit, detached	70.3%	68.3%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	2.4%	2.0%
5 to 19 units	0.8%	1.7%
20 or more units	1.1%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	23.7%	27.2%

Poverty & households

	McDowell County	Wyoming County
Poverty rate	30.9%	22.6%
Average household size	2.51	2.63
Mean commute (minutes)	35	33
Median year structure built	1959	1975