Mercer County vs Wood County

A side-by-side comparison of Mercer County and Wood County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wood County has the higher population (83,829 vs 59,062 in Mercer County). Wood County has the higher median household income ($56,193 vs $47,799 in Mercer County). Wood County has the higher median home value ($153,700 vs $118,600 in Mercer County).

Population, income & housing

	Mercer County	Wood County
Population	59,062	83,829
Median age	43.3 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$47,799	$56,193
Median home value	$118,600	$153,700
Median gross rent	$813	$789
Housing units	29,358	40,296
Homeownership rate	69.7%	74.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	22.9%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mercer County	Wood County
Population	59,919 → 59,062 (-1.4%)	84,960 → 83,829 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$40,784 → $47,799 (+17.2%)	$47,321 → $56,193 (+18.7%)
Median home value	$96,700 → $118,600 (+22.6%)	$124,200 → $153,700 (+23.8%)
Median gross rent	$672 → $813 (+21.0%)	$713 → $789 (+10.7%)

Mercer County

Population

59,91959,062

Median household income

$40,784$47,799

Median home value

$96,700$118,600

Median gross rent

$672$813

Wood County

Population

84,96083,829

Median household income

$47,321$56,193

Median home value

$124,200$153,700

Median gross rent

$713$789

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mercer County	Wood County
Under 5	5.3%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.7%	15.7%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.3%
25 to 34	11.5%	11.3%
35 to 44	11.2%	11.9%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.0%
55 to 64	13.1%	14.3%
65 to 74	13.2%	12.3%
75 and over	9.4%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mercer County	Wood County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.9%	94.0%
Black or African American	4.2%	1.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.7%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	1.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mercer County	Wood County
No high school diploma	13.4%	9.5%
High school graduate	39.5%	35.5%
Some college or associate's	26.5%	32.1%
Bachelor's degree	13.6%	14.3%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	8.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mercer County	Wood County
Drove alone	82.7%	79.5%
Carpooled	6.8%	8.2%
Public transit	0.6%	0.7%
Walked	2.2%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.4%	8.6%
Other means	1.4%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mercer County	Wood County
1-unit, detached	66.7%	75.2%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	7.7%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	5.5%
20 or more units	2.2%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	20.2%	7.6%

Poverty & households

	Mercer County	Wood County
Poverty rate	18.0%	14.8%
Average household size	2.36	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	24	20
Median year structure built	1974	1969