Boone County, West Virginia Population and Demographics

In this article, we'll explore the population statistics for Boone County, West Virginia, including popular demographics data like median age, number of households, household income, gender, employment and unemployment rates, occupations, religion, and more.

We are using the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey data from the US Census Bureau, which is accurate up to 2021.

Table of Contents

Population

There is a lot of data that lets us see how many people live in Boone County, West Virginia. The most basic data is the total population, which is the total number of people living in Boone County, West Virginia. The estimated population of Boone County, West Virginia is 22,059 people, with a median age of 44.4.

We can look at the total population in Boone County over the last 5 years to see how much it has changed.

Year Population Change 5-Year Change
2021
22,059
+0.74%
-5.07%
2020
21,897
 -2.11% -
2019
22,368
 -1.97% -
2018
22,817
 -1.8% -
2017
23,236
 - -

Population of Boone County, West Virginia by Race and Ethnicity

We can also look at how the population has changed over the last 5 years by each of the race/ethnicity types as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Race 2021 2017 Change
White
97.4%
97.8%
 -0.41%
Black/African American
0.6%
0.8%
 -25.00%
Native
0%
0%
 0.00%
Hispanic
0.3%
0.6%
 -50.00%
Asian
0.1%
0.2%
 -50.00%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0%
0%
 0.00%
Two Or More Races
1.5%
0.6%
 +150.00%
Other
0%
0%
 0.00%

This data can be very important for a number of reasons, including social and economic research, planning and development, and marketing to a multi-cultural population.

Note that the Native group includes both Native American and Alaskan Native people.

Population of Boone County, West Virginia by Age and Gender

The age and gender of a population is another interesting demographic statistic because it lets us track trends in the population over time. For example, we can see how the population has changed over the last 5 years by median age as a total, and also by male and female.

Year Total Male Female
2021 44.4 +0.91% 43.7 +1.16% 45.3 +0.44%
2020 44 +1.15% 43.2 +1.89% 45.1 +1.35%
2019 43.5 +1.87% 42.4 +1.44% 44.5 +1.6%
2018 42.7 +0.47% 41.8 +0.48% 43.8 +0.69%
2017 42.5 - 41.6 - 43.5 -

The median age of Boone County, West Virginia gives you an idea of the age distribution, with half of the population being older than the median age and half being younger.

This can then be used to infer and compare against birth rates, parent ages, and more metrics to understand the population. For example, an increasing median age indicates an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population in terms of birth rates and workforce participation.

Age 2021 2017
(Years) Male Female Male Female
0 to 9 1,503 -28.18% 1,315 -18.07% 1,120 1,091
10 to 19 1,415 +12.5% 1,369 -0.4% 1,598 1,361
20 to 29 1,262 -0.81% 1,163 -6.17% 1,249 1,091
30 to 39 1,275 -27.13% 1,414 -34.33% 961 985
40 to 49 1,631 +2.87% 1,603 +7.41% 1,676 1,723
50 to 59 1,631 -19.15% 1,710 -19.84% 1,332 1,392
60 to 69 1,689 +7.1% 1,528 +15.11% 1,804 1,762
70+ 1,124 +18.45% 1,604 -1.71% 1,344 1,570

Median Household Income

The latest median household income of Boone County, West Virginia is $50,598.00.

In simple terms, the median income is the middle income of a group of people. Half of the people in the group make more than the median income, and half make less. The median income is a good indicator of the overall income of a group of people, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more.

Median Income by Age

We can also look at the median income by age to see how the median income varies by age, and how it compares to the overall median income for Boone County.

  • Under 25
    $15,650.00
  • 25 to 44
    $65,206.00
  • 45 to 64
    $57,964.00
  • 65 and over
    $41,307.00

Average Household Income

Whenever we ask what is the average household income in Boone County, we are actually talking about the mean household income.

This is calculated by adding up all the incomes of all the households in Boone County, and then dividing that number by the total number of households. This is a good way to get a general idea of the average income of a group of people, but it can be skewed by a very high or very low incomes.

The average household income of Boone County, West Virginia is currently $59,887.00.

In terms of accurately summarizing income at a geographic level, the median income is a better metric than the average income because it isn't affected by a small number of very high or very low incomes.

If you had an area where the average income was greater than the median, it can mean that there is significant income inequality, with income being concentrated in a small number of wealthy households.

0.83% of households in Boone County are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers

The US Census Bureau divides households into income tiers based on the median income for the area. This is a good way to compare the income of Boone County against other areas.

  • Less than $24,999
    25.69%
  • $25,000 to $49,999
    23.62%
  • $50,000 to $74,999
    21.31%
  • $75,000 to $99,999
    12.36%
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    12.01%
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    4.18%
  • $200,000 or more
    0.83%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income in Boone County is $23,630.00.

Per capita income is the average income of a person in a given area. It is calculated by dividing the total income of Boone County by the total population of Boone County.

This is different from the average or mean income because it includes and accounts for all people in Boone County, West Virginia, including people like children, the elderly, unemployed people, retired people, and more.

Education Levels

We can also look at the education levels in Boone County to see how many people have a high school degree, a bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree.

Educational attainment is a good indicator of the overall education level of a population, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more to see how education levels affect income, unemployment rates, and more.

  • Master's degree or higher
    7.46%
  • Bachelor's degree
    9.76%
  • Some college or associate's degree
    12.48%
  • High school diploma or equivalent
    66.72%
  • Less than high school diploma
    3.58%

Employment

Employment rates are all based around the total population in Boone County that are over the age of 16.

The total population of Boone County over the age of 16 is 17,934.

Of those people, a total of 42.50% are working or actively looking for work. This is called the labor force participation rate.

The participation rate is a useful market measure because it shows the relative amount of labor resources available to the economy.

The employment to total population rate in Boone County is 36.20%.

Employment by Age

We can look at the employment rates by age to see how it compares to the overall employment rate.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
16 to 19 years 1,045 33.20% 25.40%
20 to 24 years 1,185 46.70% 9.00%
25 to 29 years 1,155 60.00% 27.40%
30 to 34 years 1,034 66.60% 8.00%
35 to 44 years 2,726 68.80% 16.70%
45 to 54 years 3,071 59.80% 19.40%
55 to 59 years 1,238 49.80% 0.00%
60 to 64 years 2,012 28.70% 1.40%
65 to 74 years 2,920 11.80% 0.00%
75 years and over 1,548 5.40% 0.00%

Employment by Race

Another very interesting employment statistic we can look at is the employment and unemployment rates by race in Boone County. The table below shows the rates for each of the ethnicity groups types defined by the US Census Bureau.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
White 17,615 42.70% 13.90%
Black or African American 65 33.80% 0.00%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0 0.00% 0.00%
Asian 17 0.00% 0.00%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0 0.00% 0.00%
Other 10 100.00% 100.00%
Two or more races 227 26.90% 0.00%
Hispanic or Latino 64 0.00% 0.00%
Not Hispanic or Latino 17,583 42.80% 13.90%

Occupations

In this section we can look at the most common occupations in Boone County as well as the gender breakdown and earnings of them.

The total population of civilian employees that are 16 years old or older in Boone County is 6,498, with median earnings of $34,203.00.

Women in Boone County, West Virginia earning approximately 55.60% of the men's earnings.

Population Earnings
Total 6,498 $34,203.00
Male 3,317 $48,808.00
Female 3,181 $27,161.00

Occupations by Category

In the table below, we can break down the population and earnings even further by occupation. The list of occupation categories below will show you how many people are employed in each category and the median earnings of each profession.

Occupation Employed Earnings
Management 478 $70,385.00
Business and Financial 163 $41,250.00
Computer and Mathematical 19 $0.00
Architecture and Engineering 106 $85,556.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 31 $0.00
Community and Social Service 85 $48,496.00
Legal 65 $29,696.00
Educational and Library 435 $43,750.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 31 $0.00
Healthcare Practitioners 530 $31,324.00
Healthcare Support 264 $16,638.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 199 $20,104.00
Law Enforcement 27 $70,250.00
Food Preparation and Serving 312 $13,737.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 176 $24,091.00
Personal Care and Service 157 $23,125.00
Sales 637 $8,006.00
Office and Administrative Support 876 $31,793.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 17 $0.00
Construction and Extraction 879 $65,649.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 238 $34,593.00
Production 286 $51,490.00
Transportation and Material Moving 230 $53,810.00

Occupations by Gender

The table below shows the same occupations from the list above, but we have split them by male and female to see how many male and females work in each occupation, the median earnings, and the male to female ratio of earnings.

That last metric is important because it can be used to look at the gender pay gap between men and women.

Occupation Male Female
Population Earnings Population Earnings
Management 289 $91,450.00 189 $36,942.00
Business and Financial 62 $48,750.00 101 $34,522.00
Computer and Mathematical 19 $0.00 0 $0.00
Architecture and Engineering 106 $85,556.00 0 $0.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 15 $0.00 16 $0.00
Community and Social Service 13 $0.00 72 $48,596.00
Legal 6 $0.00 59 $0.00
Educational and Library 74 $44,844.00 361 $42,989.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 22 $0.00 9 $0.00
Healthcare Practitioners 104 $36,875.00 426 $30,882.00
Healthcare Support 30 $0.00 234 $17,670.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 193 $20,729.00 6 $0.00
Law Enforcement 27 $70,250.00 0 $0.00
Food Preparation and Serving 56 $2,499.00 256 $14,360.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 81 $33,531.00 95 $14,014.00
Personal Care and Service 44 $0.00 113 $14,745.00
Sales 262 $6,605.00 375 $9,514.00
Office and Administrative Support 121 $34,053.00 755 $30,679.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 17 $0.00 0 $0.00
Construction and Extraction 879 $65,649.00 0 $0.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 232 $34,767.00 6 $0.00
Production 250 $51,875.00 36 $0.00
Transportation and Material Moving 185 $64,583.00 45 $11,719.00

Households and Family Size

A household defined bu the US Census Bureau is a group of people who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters.

There are currently 7,821 households in Boone County, with an average household size of 2.81 people.

A family is defined as a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together in the same household.

There are 5,523 families in Boone County with an average family size of 3.32 people.

Households by Marital Status

The four categories of household by marital status are:

  • Married-couple family
  • Male householder with no spouse present
  • Female household with no spouse present
  • Nonfamily household

The table below shows the total number of households and families, with the average sizes of each.

Married Male Female Nonfamily
Total Households 4,361 331 831 2,298
Average Household Size 3.32 3.77 4.01 1.25
Total Families 4,361 331 831 0
Average Household Size 3.32 3.13 3.42 0

Poverty

Of the 5,523 families in Boone County, 15.90% are considered to be below the poverty threshold.

The table below shows the latest poverty thresholds in Boone County:

Household Size Poverty Threshold
1 Person $14,580.00
2 People $19,720.00
3 People $24,860.00
4 People $30,000.00
5 People $35,140.00
6 People $40,280.00
7 People $45,420.00
8 People $50,560.00

Housing

There are 10,255 housing units in Boone County, West Virginia.

The table below shows the split between occupied and vacant units:

Total Percentage
Occupied 7,821 76.27%
Vacant 2,434 23.73%

10.80% of the total 10,255 housing units in Boone County are rental units. This is approximately 1,108 properties.

For owner-occupied housing units, a total of 6,249 are occupied by the owner - or 60.94% of the total.

Rental Rates

The median rent for a property in Boone County is $694.00.

In the chart below, we can look at the number of rental properties in Boone County that fall into a particular rent range. These can then be used to compare with other areas, or to see how they have changed over time.

  • No rent paid
    464
  • Less than $500
    244
  • $500 to $999
    750
  • $1,000 to $1,499
    114
  • $1,500 to $1,999
    0
  • $2,000 to $2,499
    0
  • $2,500 to $2,999
    0
  • $3,000 or more
    0

Property Value

The median value of a property in Boone County is $80,100.00.

Just like with rental rates, we can look at the number of properties in Boone County that fall into a particular value range.

  • Less than $50,000
    1,692
  • $50,000 to $99,999
    2,047
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    890
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    635
  • $200,000 to $299,999
    815
  • $300,000 to $499,999
    86
  • $500,000 to $999,999
    61
  • $1,000,000 or more
    23

Property Age

We can also look at the age of properties in Boone County. The chart below shows the number of properties in Boone County that fall into a particular age range.

  • 1939 or earlier
    1,080
  • 1940 to 1949
    1,046
  • 1950 to 1959
    1,264
  • 1960 to 1969
    652
  • 1970 to 1979
    2,374
  • 1980 to 1989
    1,103
  • 1990 to 1999
    1,351
  • 2000 to 2009
    940
  • 2010 to 2013
    440
  • 2014 or later
    5

Vehicles per Household

The number of vehicles available per household can be a good indicator of the level of affluence in an area. The chart below shows the number of households in Boone County that have a particular number of vehicles available.

  • No vehicles available
    622
  • 1 vehicle available
    2,529
  • 2 vehicles available
    2,782
  • 3 or more vehicles available
    1,888

Commuting to Work

In this section, we can also look at how people in Boone County get to work. The chart below shows the number of people in Boone County that commute to work in a particular way.

31.7 minutes is the average travel time to work for people in Boone County.

These commute times can be compared to other date like income and educational levels to see how they relate to each other and if there are any trends in the data that might suggest a correlation.

  • Less than 5 minutes
    395
  • 5 to 9 minutes
    935
  • 10 to 14 minutes
    487
  • 15 to 19 minutes
    421
  • 20 to 24 minutes
    513
  • 25 to 29 minutes
    223
  • 30 to 34 minutes
    619
  • 35 to 39 minutes
    382
  • 40 to 44 minutes
    383
  • 45 to 59 minutes
    1,035
  • 60 to 89 minutes
    621
  • 90 or more minutes
    241

Summary

We've covered a LOT of demographic and population data for Boone County, West Virginia in this article! Hopefully you have found it very useful in your research of the area.

If you use any of the data found on this page, please consider linking back to USPopulation.org as the source and if you have any feedback or data requests, click here to contact us.

Places in Boone County, West Virginia

We have data for 13 places in Boone County, West Virginia. Click on a place below to see more information about the demographics of that place.