
West Virginia · Census place 08524
Bluefield, WV population, income and ZIP codes
Quick answer
The population of the city of Bluefield, West Virginia (Bluefield, WV — Census place “Bluefield city”) is 9,511 residents, ranking #17 of 439 places in West Virginia. Median household income is $43,826, the median home is worth $101,000 and median gross rent runs $790 a month. Looking for the Bluefield West Virginia ZIP code list? 1 ZIP codes serve Bluefield, WV: 24701.
- Population
- 9,511Bluefield city residents
- Median household income
- $43,826Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
- Median home value
- $101,000Owner-occupied units
- Median gross rent
- $790Rent plus utilities, monthly
- Median age
- 41.2 yrsAll residents
- Homeownership rate
- 54.6%Owner-occupied households
Bluefield ZIP codes (West Virginia)
Census ZCTAs whose delivery area overlaps Bluefield.
The Bluefield WV ZIP code list below covers 1 ZIP code. Open any one for its population, income, housing and rent profile.
What the numbers mean in Bluefield city
Housing cost measured against local earnings.
A household earning the Bluefield city median would spend about 21.6% of gross income on the median rent. The 30% mark is the federal threshold for cost burden, so anything above it signals a stretched rental market. The median home costs 2.3× the median household income; nationally that ratio sits near 4.5×. Poverty affects 20.1% of residents and 54.6% of households own their home.
Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates · rates as published for 2019-2023 ACS 5-year
Bluefield city, WV in context
How this area compares with national benchmarks.
Bluefield city is a mid-size town in West Virginia, with 9,511 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #17 of 439 ranked by population — larger than 96% of them. The median age here is 41.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.
Households in Bluefield city earn a median of $43,826 a year, 44.2% below the national figure of $78,538 and 17% below the $52,974 median for the 148 West Virginia cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 20.1% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.
The typical owner-occupied home in Bluefield city is valued at $101,000, 66.7% below the national figure and 21% below the $127,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $790 a month, 43.8% below the national figure, or roughly $9,480 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 21.6% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 2.3×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 54.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.
No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.
Compare with nearby places
Places of similar size in West Virginia.
- Bridgeport city 9,292
- Cross Lanes CDP 10,172
- Oak Hill city 8,057
- Cheat Lake CDP 10,485
- Moundsville city 7,934
- Vienna city 10,575
- Dunbar city 7,340
- St. Albans city 10,637
Keep going
More West Virginia coverage.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about this area.
- What is the population of Bluefield city?
- Bluefield city has 9,511 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, ranking #17 of 439 in West Virginia.
- What is the median household income in Bluefield city?
- Median household income in Bluefield city is $43,826 a year, 44.2% below the national figure of $78,538.
- How much does it cost to rent or buy in Bluefield city?
- Median gross rent is $790 a month and the median home value is $101,000, so rent absorbs about 21.6% of median household income.
- Is Bluefield city affordable compared with the rest of the US?
- Homes cost about 2.3× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Bluefield city is more affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 21.6% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.
- How current is this Bluefield city data?
- All figures come from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year five-year estimates. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.