West Virginia Counties

Complete list of all 55 counties in West Virginia with population, area, median income, and county seats — plus a free printable blank map.

Counties

Population

1,778,104

Area

24,038 sq mi

Capital

Charleston

Time Zone

Eastern (ET)

Labeled outline map of West Virginia counties. Download a printable version in SVG, PNG, or PDF.

All 55 West Virginia counties

County	County Seat	Population ▼	Area	Median Income	Cities
Kanawha	—	181,671	902 mi²	$62,808	34
Berkeley	—	128,889	321 mi²	$81,802	8
Monongalia	—	107,128	360 mi²	$67,714	11
Cabell	—	92,769	281 mi²	$59,042	8
Wood	—	83,669	366 mi²	$58,778	10
Raleigh	—	74,800	605 mi²	$55,296	45
Jefferson	—	62,451	210 mi²	$98,798	11
Harrison	—	61,413	416 mi²	$64,578	17
Mercer	—	58,311	419 mi²	$54,035	17
Marion	—	56,272	309 mi²	$68,460	16
Putnam	—	52,933	346 mi²	$85,755	12
Ohio	—	45,916	106 mi²	$58,493	4
Fayette	—	42,261	662 mi²	$53,889	44
Wayne	—	40,836	506 mi²	$56,184	14
Greenbrier	—	35,093	1,020 mi²	$47,468	19

How many counties does West Virginia have?

West Virginia has 55 counties covering 24,038 square miles and roughly 1,778,104 residents. The state was admitted to the Union in 1863 as the 35th state, and the current county boundaries reflect more than a century of administrative subdivision.

The largest county by land area is Randolph County at 1,040 square miles, home to about 28,006 residents. The most populous is Kanawha County with approximately 181,671 residents — a density of about 201 people per square mile.

At the other end of the scale, Wirt County has only about 4,526 residents.

Charleston is both the state capital and the largest city in West Virginia.

Related resources

Download a printable outline of West Virginia’s county boundaries from our blank map of West Virginia page — available in SVG, PNG, and PDF.

Use the What County Am I In? tool to detect which West Virginia county a GPS location or address falls in, or the Address to County Lookup for batch input.

For demographic radius analysis, the Find ZIP Codes in Radius and Population Within Radius tools let you draw a circle around any West Virginia address and see every ZIP code and the total population inside.

Two SimpleMapLab studies cover West Virginia specifically: the 100-mile radius around Charleston measures how much of the state lives within 100 miles of its capitol, and the loneliest town in West Virginia ranks the state’s most isolated inhabited place. The county-counts blog post puts West Virginia’s 55 counties in national context.

Frequently asked questions

West Virginia has 55 counties. The state was admitted to the Union in 1863 as the 35th state. County boundaries have shifted over time as the population spread and new administrative units were carved from existing ones.

Randolph County is the largest by land area at 1,040 square miles, with about 28,006 residents.

Kanawha County is the most populous, with approximately 181,671 residents over 902 square miles.

Wirt County has the smallest population at about 4,526 residents.

Charleston is both the state capital and the largest city in West Virginia.

Population, area, and demographic figures are aggregated from ZIP-code-level US Census data (via the SimpleMaps dataset) and the US Census Gazetteer. County boundaries used to render the map are from the US Atlas TopoJSON build of the Census Bureau's TIGER/Line shapefiles. The data is public domain.

Data sources

Population and demographics are aggregated from ZIP-code-level US Census data via the SimpleMaps dataset. Countiesboundaries are from the US Atlas TopoJSON build of the Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line shapefiles. Land area is from the Census Gazetteer. State counts follow the US Census Bureau’s definition of counties and county-equivalents (50 states + DC = 3,143). All sources are public domain.

Neighboring states