Raleigh County area

Population and density of Raleigh County

The Census Bureau estimates that 71,775 people lived in Raleigh County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #784 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #6 of 55 in West Virginia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 74,590, the population has declined by 2,815 (−3.8%), compared with −1.5% for West Virginia as a whole.

With 605 square miles of land, that is 119 people per square mile (46 per km²), placing Raleigh County #879 nationally for density and #14 in West Virginia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the West Virginia median is 45. Put another way, there are about 5.4 acres of land per resident.

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Raleigh County

5 incorporated places lie at least partly in Raleigh County. Together they are home to 19,039 people (26.5%); the other 52,736 (73.5%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Beckley city, with 16,373 residents in the county.

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each place inside Raleigh County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer, for the whole place even where it extends into other counties. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Raleigh County is a central county of the Beckley, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2 county equivalents have 109,940 residents on 1,266.9 square miles of land; Raleigh County accounts for 47.8% of the land and 65.3% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #248 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #354 by population.

ZIP codes

45 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Raleigh County; 41 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

250072500825044250482506025062251402517425180252092580125811258132581725818258232582525827258322583625839258432584425849258512585325857258642586525871258732587825880259022590825909259112591525918259202592125932259512596925989

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Raleigh County

Raleigh County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than 4 of them. The largest neighbor is Kanawha County (901.7 mi²) and the smallest is Summers County (360.6 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Raleigh County forms a block of 3,950.1 mi² of land, of which it holds 15.3%.

How big is Raleigh County compared with U.S. states?

Raleigh County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.7 times as much. West Virginia’s county land could hold about 40 areas the size of Raleigh County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 24.6 miles (39.6 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Raleigh County?

Raleigh County has more land than 1,615 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Raleigh County at #1,715 nationally by total area, 108 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 0.7%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.5 percentage points lower. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Raleigh County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.