City · Summers County, West Virginia

Hinton, West Virginia

Hinton is a city in Summers County, West Virginia. It has 2,086 residents. Hinton, West Virginia has a quality-of-life score of 13 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,586 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within West Virginia it ranks #121 of 150 cities and towns. It ranks best on pharmacies (high), job growth (high) and homicide rate (low). It ranks worst on broadband subscriptions (low), drug overdose deaths (high) and math scores (low).

13Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,586 of 15,651 cities and towns
West Virginia: #121 of 150 in WV
Population: 2,086 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 931.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 5437636

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety59#6,399/15,637
Economy4#15,046/15,631
Housing50#7,445/14,977
Health0#15,549/15,609
Healthcare16#13,176/15,650
Environment75#3,938/15,453
Education23#12,101/15,649
Infrastructure9#14,186/15,650
Community25#11,810/15,651
Leisure & amenities6#14,784/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Hinton, West Virginia ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Summers County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Pharmacies · high3.5 /10k
98/100West Virginia 2.8 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsSummers County value
Job growth · high3.8%
96/100West Virginia -0.4%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataSummers County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100West Virginia 3.2 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSummers County value
Property crime rate · low413 /100k
93/100West Virginia 1,053 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureSummers County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · low6 mi
92/100West Virginia 30 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauSummers County value
Students per teacher · low11.5×
90/100West Virginia 13.2×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsSummers County value

Weaknesses

Broadband subscriptions · low71.4%
0/100West Virginia 86.1%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Drug overdose deaths · high95.0 /100k
0/100West Virginia 36.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSummers County value
Math scores · low2.14
0/100West Virginia 2.72United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSummers County value
Depression · high33.8%
1/100West Virginia 31.9%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Frequent mental distress · high25.0%
1/100West Virginia 23.4%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Injury deaths · high193 /100k
1/100West Virginia 151 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSummers County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
2,785 (2015-2019) → 2,086 (2020-2024)
−25%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Unemployment rateImproving
18.6% (2015-2019) → 3.9% (2020-2024)
−15 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Child poverty rateWorsening
33.2% (2015-2019) → 46.8% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
10.8% (2015-2019) → 21.8% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Poverty rateWorsening
26.5% (2015-2019) → 35.0% (2020-2024)
+8.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
63.7% (2015-2019) → 71.4% (2020-2024)
+7.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Hinton, West Virginia improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Bachelor's++11 points10.8% → 21.8%
Broadband+7.8 points63.7% → 71.4%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Hinton, West Virginia between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.8 min2015-2019	26.2 min2020-2024	+2.5 min	Within the margin of error	24%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.8%2015-2019	21.8%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	92%
Broadband subscriptions	63.7%2015-2019	71.4%2020-2024	+7.8 points	Improved	48%
Child poverty rate	33.2%2015-2019	46.8%2020-2024	+14 points	Within the margin of error	8%
Effective property tax rate	0.55%2015-2019	0.49%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	27%
High school diploma or higher	83.8%2015-2019	84.1%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Home price to income ratio	2.6×2015-2019	2.5×2020-2024	−0.1×	Within the margin of error	83%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4202015-2019	0.5042020-2024	+0.084	Within the margin of error	7%
Median household income	$31,4302015-2019	$37,6102020-2024	+20%	Within the margin of error	32%
Poverty rate	26.5%2015-2019	35.0%2020-2024	+8.5 points	Within the margin of error	6%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	34.8%2015-2019	37.9%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Rent-burdened households	61.5%2015-2019	58.9%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Within the margin of error	65%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Hinton, West Virginia five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Hinton, West Virginia in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Hinton, West Virginia itself moved −1.7 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

2,086 residents (±345)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

875 households (±150)

Hinton, West Virginia
West Virginia share

Under $25k31%†273
$25k–50k32%†281
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

875 households (±150)

Hinton, West Virginia
West Virginia share

Own70%614
Rent30%†261

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Rent (−14.2 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

662 workers (±174)

Hinton, West Virginia
West Virginia share

Drive alone77%509
Carpool9.5%†63
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Summers County, the county holding most of Hinton's residents.

Summers County has 162 employer establishments, 140 for every 10,000 residents (0.56× the US rate of 248; 0.69× West Virginia's), with 1,585 paid employees at an average annual pay of $36,187. The Census Bureau also counts 546 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 162; 546 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 140; US 248 · West Virginia 202
Paid employees: 1,585
Average annual pay: $36,187; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Summers County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	13	11.2	0.54×Fewer than typical	198	$33,611	25
Religious organizations	12	10.3	1.87×More than typical	30	$16,367	—
Construction of buildings	8	6.9	0.91×Too few to compare	20	$29,100	24
Gasoline stations	8	6.9	2.13×Too few to compare	59	$21,508	—
Restaurants and other eating places	8	6.9	0.38×Too few to compare	149	$14,497	5
Lessors of real estate	6	5.2	0.42×Too few to compare	7	$26,429	51
Outpatient care centers	6	5.2	2.81×Too few to compare	20	$36,750	—
Full-service restaurants	5	4.3	0.56×Too few to compare	50	$12,060	—
General merchandise stores	5	4.3	2.44×Too few to compare	35	$19,943	6
Automotive repair and maintenance	4	3.4	0.69×Too few to compare	11	$21,909	9
Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)	4	3.4	2.84×Too few to compare	36	$7,889	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	4	3.4	0.79×Too few to compare	18	$24,500	4

Rank places for an industry Open Summers County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 11,595 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $364.1K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Hinton, West Virginia: $175 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $364.1K; +94% vs FY2025
Per resident: $175; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.1%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of the Army$363.9K99.9%
Defense Logistics Agency$2430.1%

Top recipients

BRAYMAN CONSTRUCTION CORP$355.4K98%
STANTEC TETRA TECH JV II$11.8K3.2%
STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES INC$1,8610.5%
SOUTHERN SANITATION INC$3180.1%
RT ROGERS OIL CO INC$2430.1%

Spending by fiscal year

-29.4KFY2017
86.1KFY2018
648.2KFY2019
7.1MFY2020
380.6KFY2021
248.1KFY2022
302.2KFY2023
265.8KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Other heavy and civil engineering construction · 2379$355.4K98%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$8,1292.2%
Waste collection · 5621$3180.1%
Petroleum and coal products manufacturing · 3241$2430.1%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Hinton, West Virginia, so they do not add up across cities.

Hinton, West Virginia's figures are part of those of Summers County, WV ($16.9M in FY2026), never added to them: 2.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Hinton is mostly in Summers County.

See federal money in Summers County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Hinton, West Virginia is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Carol D. MillerR-WV-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 5.3%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Summers County13100% of residents

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/5437636

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends