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Place dossier plate
SheetWV-WHEELING-WV · Wheeling, WV 26,670 pop · income 17th pct · 18 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 Wheeling
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wheeling on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Beckley · lowest
39,939
Beckley · lowest
39,939 median HH income
25.7% of the leader · rank #1
Wheeling · this city
48,498
Wheeling · this city
48,498 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #2
Leachville · near
48,500
Leachville · near
48,500 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #3
New Douglas · near
48,500
New Douglas · near
48,500 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #4
Cromwell · near
48,500
Cromwell · near
48,500 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #5
Oxford · near
48,500
Oxford · near
48,500 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #6
Keystone · highest
155,365
Keystone · highest
155,365 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 Wheeling 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: 26,670.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Wheeling - the verdict
Nationally, Wheeling sits in the 17th percentile for household income and the 16th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
17th
percentile, household income
24th
percentile, home value
5th
percentile, median rent
16th
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: Wheeling, WV
26,670 people live in Wheeling, West Virginia - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Wheeling households earn a median of $48,498 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.7%. Home values in Wheeling run a median of $142,500, and the median resident age is 44.8 years. Educational attainment runs 32.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 50.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. Wheeling's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2974.8 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 53.1°F with 41.9 inches of precipitation per year.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $945 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in West Virginia run around $220, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Wheeling'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to within-city variation to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wheeling, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Wheeling?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Wheeling?
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.
Within West Virginia, the closest population matches are Parkersburg (29,461 residents, $44,675 income); Morgantown (30,273 residents, $42,245 income); Martinsburg (18,805 residents, $54,590 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Granite City, IL (26,670 residents); Troy, OH (26,716 residents); Horn Lake, MS (26,622 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.
Is Wheeling growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1,254 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.7% 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.
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.
PlainCities matches 18 Census tracts to this city.
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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Wheeling?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 53.1°F, with 41.9 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for West Virginia is 49.2 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
49.2
Annual precipitation
41.9 in
Mean temperature
53.1°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What does the journey to work look like in Wheeling?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Drive alone
77.1%
Work from home
6.9%
Public transit
2.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 10,956 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Wheeling?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2974.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 30% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
2974.8
Violent rate
982.6
Property rate
1992.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 14 public schools within the city match. 32.4% 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.
Poverty estimate
13.7%
Bachelor's degree+
32.4%
Matched public schools
14
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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 C+
32.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$48,498
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
983 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Wheeling profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 87/100 (A) · 89.5 index
Bachelor's+ share: 62/100 (C+) · 32.4%
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.7%
Household income: 18/100 (F) · $48,498
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 983 /100k
Where Wheeling sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Wheeling'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 - Wheeling highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Wheeling, WV (this city): home $142,500, crime 2,975/100k
Granite City, IL : home $99,800, crime 3,108/100k
Troy, OH : home $199,400, crime 1,255/100k
Horn Lake, MS : home $158,900, crime 1,509/100k
Parkersburg, WV : home $113,900, crime 3,477/100k
Morgantown, WV : home $238,200, crime 2,170/100k
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 Wheeling compare to other US cities?
Here's how Wheeling stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income17% higher than other cities
Home value24% pricier than other cities
Median rent5% pricier than other cities
Safety16% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at West Virginia, Wheeling ranks #36 of 45 West Virginia cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Wheeling 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 Wheeling near the bottom of West Virginia's cities
Among the 390 West Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wheeling ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wheeling only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#188 of 330
43rd percentile in West Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 390
0th percentile in West Virginia
Median Home Value
#100 of 337
70th percentile in West Virginia
Poverty Rate
#159 of 389
59th percentile in West Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#58 of 390
85th 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
17th percentile nationally for median household income · 16th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Wheeling's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Wheeling'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 Wheeling's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$142,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 76% 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
Wheeling's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,354 of 15,516
More affordable than 59% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#823 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.9×, Wheeling sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,354 of 15,516 and #823 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$48,498Wheeling, WV median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wheeling, 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 Wheeling, WV.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)32.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
26,670
Median Income
$48,498
Median Home Value
$142,500
Median Age
44.8
Poverty Rate
13.7%
Labor force participation
50.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
32.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2974.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
982.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1992.2
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
53.1°F
Annual Precipitation
41.9"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
14
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Wheeling's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
26,934 residents
2021
26,618 residents
2022
26,394 residents
2023
26,168 residents
2024
26,002 residents
2025
25,680 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
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
40
1
39
$5.3M
2021
86
2
84
$13.5M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
2
2
0
$0.6M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.1%
Carpool
7.9%
Public Transit
2.4%
Walk
4.4%
Work from Home
6.9%
Other
1.3%
Based on 10,956 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 Wheeling. 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 Wheeling 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 Wheeling sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wheeling 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.