Fayette County, West Virginia: commercial real estate data.

Fayette County

How many people live in Fayette County

• Population, American Community Survey 2020-202439,519
• Households15,948
• Average household size2.48
• Median household income$53,194
• Median age44.7
• Median gross rent$788 per month
• Median owner-occupied home value$105,800
• Home value to household income2.0 times
• Annual rent as a share of median income17.8 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher15.8 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree5.5 percent
• Adults 25 and over28,751
• Population under 188,175
• Share under 1820.7 percent
• Population 65 and over8,871
• Share 65 and over22.4 percent
• Working age population, 18 to 6422,473
• Civilian labor force15,575
• Unemployment rate5.6 percent
• Labor force participation, adults 18 and over49.7 percent
• Rank by population among West Virginia counties13th of 55
• Rank by population among US county-equivalents, Puerto Rico included1224th of 3,222

Fayette County is the 13th largest of 55 West Virginia counties by population. A median home costs 2.0 times median household income, which is affordable by national standards. Residents 65 and over outnumber those under 18, at 22.4 percent against 20.7 percent, which points demand at health care, services and single story product rather than schools.

US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year.

Fayette County

Where are people moving to Fayette County from?

• Tax returns filed by households arriving680
• People arriving, from those returns1,227
• Tax returns filed by households leaving779
• Net household movement-99
• Adjusted gross income arriving$28.7 m
• Net adjusted gross income movement$-3.9 m
• Average income of an arriving household$42,216
• Average income of a leaving household$41,836
• Largest single originRaleigh County (136 households)
• Largest single destinationRaleigh County (202 households)

Households arriving report $380 more average income than households leaving, so the migration is raising local spending power rather than just moving it around. The largest single source of arrivals is Raleigh County, which is the catchment a retail or multifamily study should look at first.

US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.

Fayette County

Employment by industry in Fayette County

• Covered employment, annual average10,265
• Establishments reporting1,186
• Average annual pay$47,615
• Average weekly wage$916
• Health care and social assistance, employment2,037
• Health care and social assistance, average annual pay$50,461
• Retail trade, employment1,255
• Retail trade, average annual pay$33,420
• Accommodation and food services, employment990
• Accommodation and food services, average annual pay$21,426
• Arts, entertainment and recreation, employment543
• Arts, entertainment and recreation, average annual pay$25,231
• Other services, except public administration, employment430
• Manufacturing, employment410

Health care and social assistance is the largest private sector at 2,037 jobs, 19.8 percent of covered employment.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages.

Fayette County

Building permits in Fayette County

• Housing units authorized by permit, 202428
• Declared construction value permitted$6.9 m
• Single family units authorized28
• Multifamily units authorized0
• Multifamily share of units0.0 percent
• Average declared value per unit$247,582
• Units authorized per 1,000 households1.8

Single-family homes are 100.0 percent of units authorized, so the pipeline is predominantly single-family.

US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual.

Fayette County

SBA loan default and charge-off rates in Fayette County

Do SBA loans in Fayette County get paid back?

• Loans with a final outcome recorded4
• Paid in full2
• Charged off2
• Status: Exempt from disclosure9
• Status: Paid in full2
• Status: Charged off2
• Status: Cancelled1
• Status: Committed, not yet disbursed1

Only 4 loans have reached a final outcome, fewer than the 30 a charge-off rate needs, so no rate is published.

Compare against the national and state SBA charge-off rates, computed the same way over resolved loans only.

US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.

Fayette County

How large is Fayette County?

• Land area662 sq mi
• Rank by land area among West Virginia counties6th of 55
• Width, east to west33.3 mi
• Height, north to south30.7 mi
• Geographies sharing a boundary5
• Residents per square mile of land60
• Establishments per square mile1.07

US Census Bureau county boundary geometry, TIGER, adjacency computed from shared boundary vertices, TIGER county boundaries. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year. US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023.

Feasibility studies

When a Fayette County site needs a document a lender will accept.

The same data layer behind this page is the one the studies are written from. A study for a Fayette County site starts with the figures you are reading, carrying the same source and period into the credit file.

• Population, American Community Survey 2020-202439,519
• Households15,948
• Average household size2.48
• Median household income$53,194
• Median age44.7

How a feasibility study works →

Fayette County

Cities and places in Fayette.

30 Census places lie wholly or partly in Fayette County. All 30 carry enough published place level data for a page of their own and are linked.

A further 1 of the county's 15 SBA 7(a) approvals are to borrowers in cities that match no Census place in Fayette County, the largest being Lookout (1). Those are postal cities, unincorporated areas and cities outside the county, so no place row claims them; they are counted in the county total above.