Pocahontas County vs Ritchie County

A side-by-side comparison of Pocahontas County and Ritchie County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ritchie County has the higher population (8,372 vs 7,855 in Pocahontas County). Ritchie County has the higher median household income ($50,256 vs $41,200 in Pocahontas County). Pocahontas County has the higher median home value ($139,400 vs $107,800 in Ritchie County).

Population, income & housing

	Pocahontas County	Ritchie County
Population	7,855	8,372
Median age	49.8 yrs	47.2 yrs
Median household income	$41,200	$50,256
Median home value	$139,400	$107,800
Median gross rent	$688	$583
Housing units	6,846	4,187
Homeownership rate	83.1%	84.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.8%	12.8%
Unemployment rate	10.6%	1.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pocahontas County	Ritchie County
Population	8,450 → 7,855 (-7.0%)	9,844 → 8,372 (-15.0%)
Median household income	$41,882 → $41,200 (-1.6%)	$43,577 → $50,256 (+15.3%)
Median home value	$121,700 → $139,400 (+14.5%)	$96,700 → $107,800 (+11.5%)
Median gross rent	$622 → $688 (+10.6%)	$608 → $583 (-4.1%)

Pocahontas County

Population

8,4507,855

Median household income

$41,882$41,200

Median home value

$121,700$139,400

Median gross rent

$622$688

Ritchie County

Population

9,8448,372

Median household income

$43,577$50,256

Median home value

$96,700$107,800

Median gross rent

$608$583

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Pocahontas County	Ritchie County
Under 5	4.3%	4.8%
5 to 17	12.9%	14.9%
18 to 24	6.4%	6.3%
25 to 34	10.4%	10.0%
35 to 44	10.9%	11.5%
45 to 54	11.5%	13.1%
55 to 64	16.8%	16.1%
65 to 74	15.5%	14.4%
75 and over	11.3%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pocahontas County	Ritchie County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.5%	96.6%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.8%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	0.9%	0.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pocahontas County	Ritchie County
No high school diploma	16.2%	15.7%
High school graduate	48.7%	49.2%
Some college or associate's	19.3%	22.3%
Bachelor's degree	8.7%	10.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	2.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pocahontas County	Ritchie County
Drove alone	77.7%	78.7%
Carpooled	10.8%	10.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.9%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.1%	7.9%
Other means	2.8%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pocahontas County	Ritchie County
1-unit, detached	64.3%	72.3%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	1.6%	1.3%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	1.6%
20 or more units	13.1%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	15.5%	23.4%

Poverty & households

	Pocahontas County	Ritchie County
Poverty rate	20.8%	21.7%
Average household size	2.43	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	22	32
Median year structure built	1982	1974