Charleston, WV
Metro Area Profile
205,398 residents. Jobs, income, development, climate and physical risk across the Charleston, WV metropolitan area.
Employment conditions sit below most comparable published metro profiles: unemployment is 4.4% and the Opportunity signal places Charleston in the bottom 9%.
Residential permitting has slowed: 91 units authorized over the past twelve months, 33% below the prior year.
Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 4.4% is lower than 41% of the 379 measured US metros.
Employment fell 1.6% over the past year, to 84,827 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$1,599 | $60,117 | Bottom 27% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$878 | $35,996 | Top 47% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 16.2% | Top 30% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 24.8 min | Top 43% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 27.2% | Top 43% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 84,827 | Bottom 38% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -5.2% | Bottom 5% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -1.6% | Bottom 25% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 88,746 | Bottom 38% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 54.4% | Bottom 16% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $58,170 | Bottom 33% | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $45,830 | Bottom 28% | 2025 OEWS |
| Metro employment | 103,450 | Bottom 49% | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.2% | Top 37% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 4.4% | Top 41% | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Registered Nurses | 4,320 | $80,230 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 3,200 | $28,680 |
| Retail Salespersons | 2,650 | $29,050 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | 2,230 | $23,180 |
| Cashiers | 2,170 | $26,280 |
| General and Operations Managers | 2,160 | $83,190 |
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $896 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 2.3 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 2.35 | Bottom 9% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 72.2% | Top 36% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±221 | 104,519 | Top 22% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$26 | $896 | Bottom 33% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$4,252 | $141,100 | Bottom 12% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 17.9% | Bottom 46% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 16.4% | Top 22% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has fallen 4% since 2020, reaching 202,091 in 2024.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 0.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US metros.
Weather & climate
7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 26°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 46.2 inches, including 31.5 inches of snow.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 46.2" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall | 31.5" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 26°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 86°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 7 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 41°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding.
Low or minimal exposure: landslide, heat wave, lightning, strong wind, winter weather, ice storm, avalanche, hail, earthquake, wildfire, hurricane, tornado, cold wave, drought.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. This value is the population-weighted mean of all component counties; expected annual loss is their sum. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
- Taxes
- No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Full cost of living
- No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.
Access
No airport meeting the AreaProfile major-airport definition lies within 100 miles; the nearest is 131 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rickenbacker Intl | LCK | 131 mi | 11,902 ft |
| Tri-Cities | TRI | 135 mi | 8,000 ft |
| John Glenn Columbus Intl | CMH | 140 mi | 10,114 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Similar places
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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.