What is the population of Fairlea, WV?

Fairlea's population figure on this page comes from Census ACS table B01001 (5-year); the Snapshot is the single owner of that number.

What is the median household income in Fairlea, WV?

Look at the Data Snapshot for Fairlea's household-income dollar amount, it is ACS B19013, a sample estimate with a margin of error, not tax-return wage data.

City profile · West Virginia · Census ACS 2023

Fairlea, WV

Name: Fairlea, WV City Data
Creator: PlainCities
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Fairlea's Census ACS profile: residents, income, housing, and the joined public-record layers available for this place.

Compiled by PlainCities

1,266
Residents: $23,197
Median income: $945
Median rent (state)

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Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.

Place dossier plate

Sheet WV-FAIRLEA-WV · Fairlea, WV 1,266 pop · income 1st pct

POP-VILLAGE · INC-LOW · COL-BELOW · SAFE-UNK · RANK-BOTTOM · PHOTO-FINISH · HOME-UNK · BOOK-UNK

POP-VILLAGE 1,266
INC-LOW $23,197
COL-BELOW 89.5
SAFE-UNK Safety pending
RANK-BOTTOM 1st
PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Mound Bayou
HOME-UNK Homes pending
BOOK-UNK Tracts pending

Nearest income peer: Mound Bayou, MS ( $3 income $)

Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.

Lajas zona ur… · lowest

23,151
Fort McDermitt · near

23,182
Mound Bayou · near

23,194
Galt · near

23,194
Fairlea · this city

23,197
Fresno · near

23,214
Clear Lake CD… · highest

98,098

What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.

Compare beyond this state

Nationwide peers by population, income

Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Fairlea on ACS population and median household income . Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.

Similar population

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 1,266.

4 peers

Similar household income

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS median household income. This city: $23,197. Population peers are excluded.

4 peers

Fairlea - the verdict

Nationally, Fairlea sits in the 1st percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.

1st
percentile, household income: 5th
percentile, median rent

📝 How we sourced this

Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.

Data Snapshot: Fairlea, WV

Fairlea is a small town in West Virginia, home to 1,266 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Fairlea brings in $23,197 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 40.3%. The median resident age is 60.1 years. 14.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 33.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.

Living costs in West Virginia run below the national norm: the state registers 89.5 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $945 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $220 across West Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 49.2 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).

A decision-led reading path

Useful questions to ask of Fairlea's data

How this reading path is ordered

This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.

For Fairlea, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares. No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.

Question 1

Which cities make useful reference points for Fairlea?

Within West Virginia, the closest population matches are Newell (1,252 residents, $38,924 income); MacArthur (1,287 residents, $26,824 income); Coal (1,236 residents, $23,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Baltic, CT (1,266 residents); Mulberry, IN (1,266 residents); Central City, IA (1,266 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.

Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.

Open a side-by-side comparison →

2. Work and mobility

What does the journey to work look like in Fairlea?

Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.

Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.

Compare commute patterns →

Population

1,266 residents

Micro place (under 10k)

Median Household Income

$23,197 /yr

Lowest-decile income · poverty 40.3% (Highest-decile poverty)

Cost of Living Index (state)

89.5 (US=100)

Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, West Virginia average

City profile score · Fairlea, WV

25/100

4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023

Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians (income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out and redistribute weight. How it is calculated.

Cost of living A

89.5 index

BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.

Bachelor's+ share F

14.0%

Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.

Household income F

$23,197

Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.

Poverty rate F

40.3%

Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.

Violent crime N/A

N/A

No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).

Fairlea profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)

Read the chart values

Cost of living: 87/100 (A) · 89.5 index
Bachelor's+ share: 17/100 (F) · 14.0%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $23,197
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 40.3%

How does Fairlea compare to other US cities?

Where Fairlea sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.

Household income 1% higher than other cities

Median rent 5% pricier than other cities

"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.

How we calculate these percentiles & ranks

Each percentile compares Fairlea against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to West Virginia only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.

West Virginia-relative analysis

Median Gross Rent places Fairlea near the bottom of West Virginia's cities

Among the 390 West Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Fairlea ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Fairlea only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.

Median Household Income

#321 of 330

3rd percentile in West Virginia

Median Gross Rent

#1 of 390

0th percentile in West Virginia

Poverty Rate

#29 of 389

93rd percentile in West Virginia

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

#210 of 390

46th percentile in West Virginia

How in-state ranks are ordered

Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within West Virginia only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.

Gauge source note

1st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.

Income distribution context

$23,197 Fairlea, WV median household income (Census ACS)

Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context

Fairlea, WV median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Fairlea, WV.

Key socioeconomic indicators

Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+) 14.0%

Census ACS S1501, educational attainment

Poverty rate (households below FPL) 40.3%

Census ACS S1701, poverty status

Labor force participation (adults 16+) 33.7%

Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force

Population

1,266

Median Income

$23,197

Median Home Value

N/A

Median Age

60.1

Poverty Rate

40.3%

Labor force participation

33.7%

Bachelor's Degree+

14.0%

Commute Patterns

Commute source

How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023

Drive Alone

70.4%

Carpool

19.4%

Public Transit

0.0%

Walk

2.9%

Work from Home

7.3%

Based on 382 workers 16 and over.

Monthly Utility Costs

West Virginia statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $220

EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across West Virginia at $220 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $38 ).

These are West Virginia statewide averages, not a meter reading for Fairlea. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.

Living Costs & Risk

West Virginia's BEA cost-of-living index is 89.5 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Fairlea is $945/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to West Virginia statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.2 / 100 (Low).

Cost/risk geography note

Cost of living is a West Virginia statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Fairlea sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.

How Fairlea compares to similar-size West Virginia cities

Same-state peer method

Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.

City	Population	Median Household Income
Fairlea (this city)	1,266	$23,197
Newell	1,252	$38,924
MacArthur	1,287	$26,824
Coal	1,236	$23,750

Primary sources on this page

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Citation & verification links

Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES. Joins use OMB Bulletin 23-01 / FIPS keys.

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Verify with FBI →

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Verify with U.S. Census Bureau →

Estimate caveats

ACS and UCR figures are citywide estimates with vintage lags; they do not replace a local visit, school visit, or insurance quote.

Editorial standards, provenance, and how to cite this page

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

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