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Place dossier plate
SheetWV-HENDERSON-WV · Henderson, WV 172 pop · income 4th pct
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.
Income neighbourhood around Henderson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Henderson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Union · lowest
20,000
Union · lowest
20,000 median HH income
8.0% of the leader · rank #1
Henderson · this city
34,375
Henderson · this city
34,375 median HH income
13.7% of the leader · rank #2
Orchard Hill · near
34,375
Orchard Hill · near
34,375 median HH income
13.7% of the leader · rank #3
Pinehurst · near
34,375
Pinehurst · near
34,375 median HH income
13.7% of the leader · rank #4
Olmsted · near
34,375
Olmsted · near
34,375 median HH income
13.7% of the leader · rank #5
Plevna · near
34,375
Plevna · near
34,375 median HH income
13.7% of the leader · rank #6
Los Berros · highest
250,001
Los Berros · highest
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
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 Henderson 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: 172.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Henderson lands in the 4th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
4th
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: Henderson, WV
Henderson is a small town in West Virginia, home to 172 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Henderson households earn a median of $34,375 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 30.6%. The median resident age is 59.3 years. About 9.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 34.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Henderson (No Permits), per Census BPS data.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $945 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $220 across West Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.2 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Henderson'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Henderson, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Henderson?
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 70.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Henderson?
Within West Virginia, the closest population matches are Hillsboro (176 residents, $42,292 income); Raleigh (168 residents, $38,950 income); Whitesville (168 residents, $67,500 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Union, AL (172 residents); Tenakee Springs, AK (172 residents); Fort Bidwell, CA (172 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.
Is Henderson growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -7 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 30.6% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
89.5 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, West Virginia average
F
City profile score · Henderson, WV
23/100
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
9.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$34,375
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
30.6%
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).
Henderson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 87/100 (A) · 89.5 index
Bachelor's+ share: 5/100 (F) · 9.5%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $34,375
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 30.6%
How does Henderson compare to other US cities?
Where Henderson sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income4% higher than other cities
Median rent5% 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 Henderson 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 Henderson near the bottom of West Virginia's cities
Among the 390 West Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Henderson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Henderson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#274 of 330
17th percentile in West Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 390
0th percentile in West Virginia
Poverty Rate
#52 of 389
86th percentile in West Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#269 of 390
31st 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
4th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$34,375Henderson, WV median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Henderson, 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 Henderson, WV.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)30.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)34.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
172
Median Income
$34,375
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
59.3
Poverty Rate
30.6%
Labor force participation
34.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.5%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Henderson's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
227 residents
2021
226 residents
2022
222 residents
2023
221 residents
2024
220 residents
2025
220 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.2%
Carpool
8.8%
Public Transit
7.0%
Walk
14.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 57 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 Henderson. 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 Henderson 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 Henderson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Henderson 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.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census BPS 2024, 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.