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Place dossier plate
SheetWV-MORGANTOWN-WV · Morgantown, WV 30,273 pop · income 10th pct · 28 tracts
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 Morgantown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Morgantown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Beckley · lowest
39,939
Beckley · lowest
39,939 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #1
Christopher · near
42,244
Christopher · near
42,244 median HH income
26.1% of the leader · rank #2
Morgantown · this city
42,245
Morgantown · this city
42,245 median HH income
26.1% of the leader · rank #3
Cobden · near
42,250
Cobden · near
42,250 median HH income
26.1% of the leader · rank #4
Pioneer Junct… · near
42,250
Pioneer Junct… · near
42,250 median HH income
26.1% of the leader · rank #5
Rattan · near
42,250
Rattan · near
42,250 median HH income
26.1% of the leader · rank #6
Highland Park · highest
161,875
Highland Park · highest
161,875 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Morgantown on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 30,273.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Morgantown - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Morgantown lands in the 10th percentile for household income and the 28th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
10th
percentile, household income
53rd
percentile, home value
5th
percentile, median rent
28th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Morgantown, WV
Morgantown is a small city in West Virginia, home to 30,273 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $42,245 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.0%. Morgantown's housing stock carries a median value of $238,200, and the median resident age is 24.0 years. 58.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 51.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 1 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 94% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2169.8 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in West Virginia run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, West Virginia scores 89.5 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $945 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts West Virginia's average monthly utility costs around $220 (state average). Workers in Morgantown report an average commute of 15.1 minutes, with 62.1% driving alone and 12.5% working from home. 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 Morgantown'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 within-city variation to schools and households to work and mobility to reported crime to population change to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Morgantown, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Morgantown?
Within West Virginia, the closest population matches are Parkersburg (29,461 residents, $44,675 income); Wheeling (26,670 residents, $48,498 income); Martinsburg (18,805 residents, $54,590 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Granger, IN (30,279 residents); Niles, IL (30,262 residents); Newark, DE (30,309 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What can 28 Census tracts reveal inside Morgantown?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 28 Census tracts to this city.
What does the education layer cover for Morgantown?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 58.1% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
What does the journey to work look like in Morgantown?
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 62.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.1 minutes.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Morgantown?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2169.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 5% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1960.0
Violent rate
209.8
Total reported rate
2169.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Is Morgantown growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +230 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+0.8%
2025 estimate
30,293
2020 estimate
30,063
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Morgantown?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$42,245
Home value
$238,200
Value / income
5.6×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 17.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
89.5 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, West Virginia average
D
City profile score · Morgantown, WV
47/100
5 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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
58.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Violent crime D
210 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
17.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$42,245
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Morgantown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 91/100 (A+) · 58.1%
Cost of living: 87/100 (A) · 89.5 index
Violent crime: 46/100 (D) · 210 /100k
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 17.0%
Household income: 10/100 (F) · $42,245
Where Morgantown sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Morgantown's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Morgantown highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Morgantown, WV (this city): home $238,200, crime 2,170/100k
Niles, IL : home $350,900, crime 2,278/100k
Newark, DE : home $357,600, crime 2,308/100k
Brownsburg, IN : home $282,800, crime 663/100k
Highland Park, IL : home $594,400, crime 861/100k
Middletown, NY : home $271,000, crime 1,514/100k
Parkersburg, WV : home $113,900, crime 3,477/100k
Wheeling, WV : home $142,500, crime 2,975/100k
Weirton, WV : home $122,800, crime 468/100k
Fairmont, WV : home $159,100, crime 1,843/100k
Beckley, WV : home $148,800, crime 8,517/100k
How does Morgantown compare to other US cities?
Where Morgantown sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income10% higher than other cities
Home value53% pricier than other cities
Median rent5% pricier than other cities
Safety28% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just West Virginia and the picture shifts: Morgantown ranks #28 of 45 West Virginia cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Morgantown 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 Morgantown near the bottom of West Virginia's cities
Among the 390 West Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Morgantown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Morgantown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#239 of 330
28th percentile in West Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 390
0th percentile in West Virginia
Median Home Value
#25 of 337
93rd percentile in West Virginia
Poverty Rate
#129 of 389
67th percentile in West Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#10 of 390
97th 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
10th percentile nationally for median household income · 28th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Morgantown's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Morgantown's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Morgantown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$238,20047th percentilemore affordable than 47% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Morgantown's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,747 of 15,516
More affordable than 11% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,862 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.6×, Morgantown sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,747 of 15,516 and #2,862 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$42,245Morgantown, WV median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Morgantown, 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 Morgantown, WV.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)58.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
30,273
Median Income
$42,245
Median Home Value
$238,200
Median Age
24.0
Poverty Rate
17.0%
Labor force participation
51.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
58.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2169.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
209.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1960.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Morgantown's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
30,063 residents
2021
30,145 residents
2022
30,166 residents
2023
30,261 residents
2024
30,330 residents
2025
30,293 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
18
10
8
$3.6M
2020
12
12
0
$5.1M
2021
3
3
0
$1.6M
2022
1
1
0
$0.1M
2023
6
6
0
$2.3M
2024
1
1
0
$0.1M
Permit volume decreased 94% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.1 minutes
Drive Alone
62.1%
Carpool
9.0%
Public Transit
2.2%
Walk
12.3%
Work from Home
12.5%
Other
1.9%
Based on 14,053 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 Morgantown. 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 Morgantown 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 Morgantown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Morgantown 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, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, 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.