Metro area · West Virginia

Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro area

Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH is a metropolitan area of 8 counties in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, home to 365,965 residents. Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro area has a quality-of-life score of 33 out of 100 (low), ranking #618 of 925 US metro and micro areas. Among metro and micro areas based in West Virginia it ranks #8 of 11. It ranks best on cost of buying a home today (low), pharmacies (high) and primary care physicians (high). It ranks worst on drug overdose deaths (high), injury deaths (high) and frequent mental distress (high).

33Low
Quality-of-life score
#618 of 925 metro and micro areas
West Virginia
#8 of 11 in WV
Population
365,965 (2025)
Land area
2,916 mi²
Density
125.5 /mi²
CBSA code
26580

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 68 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map
Location of Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro area

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US metro and micro areas.

  • Safety61#358/924
  • Economy26#685/925
  • Housing65#328/925
  • Health3#900/925
  • Healthcare66#319/923
  • Environment49#468/917
  • Education44#523/925
  • Infrastructure16#774/925
  • Community26#684/925
  • Leisure & amenities44#520/925

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro area ranks highest and lowest among US metro and micro areas (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Weaknesses

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.

Metro and micro areas like Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro area five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro area 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.

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).

Income

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

Homes

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

Getting to work

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

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

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.

Federal contract spending

Federal grants & assistance

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

Counties in Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH

Whole counties, as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates the area. Federal spending below is the exact sum of these counties.

  1. Cabell CountyCentral county3691,183
  2. Putnam CountyCentral county6656,885
  3. Lawrence CountyCentral county3355,710
  4. Boyd CountyCentral county4547,751
  5. Wayne CountyCentral county2337,309
  6. Greenup CountyCentral county4135,213
  7. Carter CountyOutlying county2126,149
  8. Lawrence CountyOutlying county1615,765

States

The share of the area's residents living in each state.

Principal cities

The cities the area is named for.

  1. AshlandPrincipal city21,295
  2. HuntingtonPrincipal city45,787

Largest cities and towns

By population, for places with most of their residents in the area.

  1. Huntington45,787
  2. Ashland21,295
  3. Teays Valley14,151
  4. Ironton10,768
  5. Flatwoods7,269
  6. Pea Ridge6,988
  7. Hurricane6,855
  8. Westwood4,473
  9. Barboursville4,376
  10. Grayson3,778
  11. Russell3,676
  12. South Point3,099
  13. Culloden3,040
  14. Kenova2,944
  15. Winfield2,918
  16. Milton2,817
  17. Burlington2,807
  18. Louisa2,580
  19. Raceland2,265
  20. Coal Grove2,022
  21. Worthington1,759
  22. Eleanor1,726
  23. Wayne1,675
  24. South Shore1,642

Other metro and micro areas in West Virginia

Areas based in West Virginia, best score first.

Neighboring metro and micro areas

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar metro and micro areas

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.

JSON · /api/v1/places/M26580