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How West Virginia compares

West Virginia is among the lower-income states: its median household income, $59,608, ranks 50th of 51 and is 26% below the national $80,734. No cost-of-living adjustment is applied, so this compares dollars earned rather than what they buy.

West Virginia's top-quarter threshold of about $105,015 compares with $141,925 across the country. Nationally 13% of households are in the $200,000+ bracket; in West Virginia it's 6%.

For a more recent snapshot, the 2024 one-year survey shows $60,798 (+2% against the 2020–2024 average). We use the five-year figure elsewhere because it's more reliable for smaller areas.

Income thresholds in West Virginia

Roughly 6% of households in West Virginia sit in the $200,000-and-up bracket. By household income, the top 25% start at about $105,015, and the top 10% at about $162,218. The table marks lines that fall above $200,000 rather than guessing their value: the Census groups everyone above that amount together, so the exact top-5% and top-1% cutoffs can't be read from this data.

Another way to read it: a household earning exactly the national median, $80,734, would rank around the top 36% in West Virginia — above the state's own midpoint.

The top-quarter line is 1.76 times the state's midpoint income, about the same as the national ratio of 1.77 — a rough gauge of how stretched the upper half of the income distribution is.

Earnings by age

Looking at individual earners rather than households, the West Virginia median climbs 45% from the 25–34 group ($37,151) to the 45–54 group ($53,934). Age group by age group, West Virginia sits −16% from the national medians on average — most noticeably at 65+. These figures are personal earnings (wages plus self-employment) from Census microdata, so they're lower than household income, which can combine several earners.

Married vs. single households

If you live alone, the more relevant benchmark is the $34,162 median for single and non-family households, not the $91,390 figure for married couples (2.7× higher).

Highest- and lowest-income counties in West Virginia

Incomes vary widely within the state. Jefferson County has the highest county median at $98,806, 3.1 times that of McDowell County ($31,559). The five highest-income counties are Jefferson County, Berkeley County, Putnam County, Morgan County, and Mineral County; the five lowest are McDowell County, Mingo County, Summers County, Pocahontas County, and Clay County.

Of West Virginia's 55 counties, 2 have a median household income above the national $80,734 — 4% of them. The middle county on the list, Cabell County, sits at $55,832.

About these numbers

Sources for this section: ACS 2020–2024 five-year tables for household income (state and 55 counties), plus 32,616 person-level microdata records for the age breakdown. Groups under 100 records are left blank.