West Virginia Fact Sheet

This information was compiled from data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau on the USA Quickfacts website (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/54000.html) and the U.S. Census Bureau's Factfinder website (http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en).

Income

• Median income per West Virginia household is $37,423 (compared to the national median of $50,221) (2009)
• 17.8% of residents live below the poverty level (compared to 13.5% nationally) (Quickfacts-2009, Factfinder-2005-2009)
• 21.8% of families with children under 18 live below the poverty level (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• 39.4% of female-headed households with children under 18 live below the poverty level (Factfinder-2005-2009).

Education

• 18.4% of residents 25 years or older do not have a high school degree or GED (compared to 15.5% nationally) (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• 17.1% of residents 25 years or older have at least a bachelor’s degree (compared to 27.5% nationally) (Quickfacts-2005-2009)
• 6.9% of residents 25 years or older have less than a 9th grade education (Factfinder-2005-2009)

Employment

• 66.3% of nondisabled West Virginia residents age 16 – 64 are employed (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• Average travel time to work for West Virginia residents is 25.2 minutes (Quickfacts-2005-2009)
• 81% of West Virginians drive to work and do not carpool (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• 11.1% drive to work and do carpool (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• 3%  walk or bike to work (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• Less than 1% of West Virginians travel to work via public transportation (Factfinder-2005-2009)

Race / Ethnicity

• 93.9% of West Virginia residents are Caucasian (compared to 72.4% of the total U.S. population) (Quickfacts-2010)
• 3.4% of residents are African American (compared to 12.6% of the total U.S. population) (Quickfacts-2010)
• 2.1% of residents are Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander or of Hispanic origin (Quickfacts-2010)
• 1.3% of West Virginia residents were born in another country (compared to 12.4% of the total U.S. population) (Quickfacts-2005-2009)

Housing

• 74.3% of West Virginia residents own the home they live in (compared to 66.9% nationally) (Quickfacts-2005-2009)
• Only 50.6% of owner-occupied homes in West Virginia carry a mortgage (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• The median monthly housing costs for owner-occupied housing units with a mortgage in West Virginia is $891 per month (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• 24.9% of home owners pay 30% or more of household income for housing (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• The median monthly housing costs for renter-occupied housing units  in West Virginia is $534 per month (Factfinder-2005-2009)
• 38.5% of renters pay 30% or more of household income for housing (Factfinder-2005-2009)

Health Insurance

• An estimated 14.6% of West Virginia residents do not have health insurance (Factfinder-2010)
• As estimated 4.5% of West Virginia children (under 18) do not have health insurance (Factfinder-2010)