Roane County vs Wetzel County

A side-by-side comparison of Roane County and Wetzel County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wetzel County has the higher population (14,233 vs 13,921 in Roane County). Wetzel County has the higher median household income ($53,341 vs $45,194 in Roane County). Roane County has the higher median home value ($121,100 vs $102,800 in Wetzel County).

Population, income & housing

	Roane County	Wetzel County
Population	13,921	14,233
Median age	46.5 yrs	45.6 yrs
Median household income	$45,194	$53,341
Median home value	$121,100	$102,800
Median gross rent	$590	$703
Housing units	7,157	7,302
Homeownership rate	77.1%	82.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.2%	13.5%
Unemployment rate	9.1%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Roane County	Wetzel County
Population	14,020 → 13,921 (-0.7%)	15,436 → 14,233 (-7.8%)
Median household income	$37,373 → $45,194 (+20.9%)	$43,107 → $53,341 (+23.7%)
Median home value	$98,900 → $121,100 (+22.4%)	$103,600 → $102,800 (-0.8%)
Median gross rent	$510 → $590 (+15.7%)	$703 → $703 (+0.0%)

Roane County

Population

14,02013,921

Median household income

$37,373$45,194

Median home value

$98,900$121,100

Median gross rent

$510$590

Wetzel County

Population

15,43614,233

Median household income

$43,107$53,341

Median home value

$103,600$102,800

Median gross rent

$703$703

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Roane County	Wetzel County
Under 5	4.6%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.2%	15.6%
18 to 24	6.8%	7.3%
25 to 34	9.6%	10.7%
35 to 44	11.4%	10.3%
45 to 54	13.4%	12.7%
55 to 64	15.1%	14.9%
65 to 74	14.1%	12.6%
75 and over	8.8%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Roane County	Wetzel County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.1%	94.1%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.9%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	1.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Roane County	Wetzel County
No high school diploma	17.1%	10.1%
High school graduate	49.8%	48.6%
Some college or associate's	18.9%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	9.4%	8.4%
Graduate or professional degree	4.8%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Roane County	Wetzel County
Drove alone	77.3%	82.9%
Carpooled	12.5%	7.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	2.3%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.9%	2.4%
Other means	0.0%	3.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Roane County	Wetzel County
1-unit, detached	68.2%	74.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	1.7%	4.4%
5 to 19 units	0.8%	2.0%
20 or more units	1.4%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	27.9%	16.6%

Poverty & households

	Roane County	Wetzel County
Poverty rate	20.2%	16.6%
Average household size	2.50	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	34	30
Median year structure built	1977	1963