Data / Rankings / Population / Cities in West Virginia

Cities in West Virginia by population

Charleston, WV had the highest population of 13 cities in 2022, at 47,253. St. Albans, WV had the lowest, at 10,480. The median was 18,541 and the figure for West Virginia was 1.77 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest47,253Charleston, WV
Lowest10,480St. Albans, WV
Median18,54113 cities
West Virginia1,774,003History

All cities, 2022

Charleston, WV: 47,253 personsCharleston, WV47,253Huntington, WV: 45,742 personsHuntington, WV45,742Morgantown, WV: 30,166 personsMorgantown, WV30,166Parkersburg, WV: 29,181 personsParkersburg, WV29,181Wheeling, WV: 26,394 personsWheeling, WV26,394Martinsburg, WV: 18,953 personsMartinsburg, WV18,953Weirton, WV: 18,541 personsWeirton, WV18,541Fairmont, WV: 18,205 personsFairmont, WV18,205Beckley, WV: 16,755 personsBeckley, WV16,755Clarksburg, WV: 15,871 personsClarksburg, WV15,871South Charleston, WV: 13,397 personsSouth Charleston, WV13,397Vienna, WV: 10,500 personsVienna, WV10,500St. Albans, WV: 10,480 personsSt. Albans, WV10,480Charleston, WV: 47,253 personsCharleston, WV47,253Huntington, WV: 45,742 personsHuntington, WV45,742Morgantown, WV: 30,166 personsMorgantown, WV30,166Parkersburg, WV: 29,181 personsParkersburg, WV29,181Wheeling, WV: 26,394 personsWheeling, WV26,394Martinsburg, WV: 18,953 personsMartinsburg, WV18,953Weirton, WV: 18,541 personsWeirton, WV18,541Fairmont, WV: 18,205 personsFairmont, WV18,205Beckley, WV: 16,755 personsBeckley, WV16,755Clarksburg, WV: 15,871 personsClarksburg, WV15,871South Charleston, WV: 13,397 personsSouth Charleston, WV13,397Vienna, WV: 10,500 personsVienna, WV10,500St. Albans, WV: 10,480 personsSt. Albans, WV10,480
persons. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2022
persons		Change on 2021
1Charleston, WV47,253-1.5%
2Huntington, WV45,742-1.2%
3Morgantown, WV30,166+0.1%
4Parkersburg, WV29,181-0.9%
5Wheeling, WV26,394-0.8%
6Martinsburg, WV18,953+0.6%
7Weirton, WV18,541-1.4%
8Fairmont, WV18,205-0.7%
9Beckley, WV16,755-1.6%
10Clarksburg, WV15,871-1.7%
11South Charleston, WV13,397-1.6%
12Vienna, WV10,500-0.8%
13St. Albans, WV10,480-1.6%

Other periods

About this ranking

Resident population.

More on how it is measured
  • Spain and the EU: 1 January, with Spanish figures from the official municipal register (Padrón).
  • Norway: Statistics Norway, 1 January.
  • Iceland and its municipalities: Statistics Iceland, 1 January.
  • United States: Census Bureau population estimates for 1 July.
  • United Kingdom regions and local authorities: Office for National Statistics estimates for 30 June.
  • Other countries and the World: World Bank mid-year estimates, which count all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.
  • UN World Population Prospects estimates for 1 July cover the years before 1960 and the areas the World Bank does not publish, such as Taiwan.

The World Bank series exists for every country, so use it (through compare) to rank countries on one basis.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Census Bureau. (2026). Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals) (Cities in West Virginia by population, 2022) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/

MLA 9

Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals), Cities in West Virginia by population, 2022. U.S. Census Bureau, 14 May 2026, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/west-virginia-cities?period=2022. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2026. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). Cities in West Virginia by population, 2022. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/west-virginia-cities?period=2022.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2026) Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals), Cities in West Virginia by population, 2022 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/west-virginia-cities?period=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_cities_in_west_virginia_2022,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals): Cities in West Virginia by population, 2022}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/west-virginia-cities?period=2022. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals): Cities in West Virginia by population, 2022
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/14
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/west-virginia-cities?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/west-virginia-cities?period=2022.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Cities in West Virginia by population using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"population","level":"municipality","within":"West Virginia","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=population&level=municipality&within=West%20Virginia&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which city has the highest population?

Charleston, WV, with 47,253 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which city has the lowest population?

St. Albans, WV, with 10,480 in 2022.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Population: other rankings

Cities in West Virginia: more rankings