Mercer County, West Virginia

• White (non-Hispanic) 51,880 88.6%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 789 1.3%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 2,372 4.1%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 127 0.2%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 3,036 5.2%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 205 0.4%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 154 0.3%

• Under 18 12,204 20.8%
• 18–24 4,792 8.2%
• 25–44 13,356 22.8%
• 45–64 14,818 25.3%
• 65 and over 13,393 22.9%

Median household income

$54,317

90% interval $49,969–$58,665

−$6,345 vs WV · 37th of 55

Below poverty line

17.9%

90% interval 14.3%–21.5%

+1.7 pp vs WV · 21st of 55

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.6%

+0.13 pp vs. state

County GDP

$2.3B

2.19% of state

Avg. annual pay

$51,374

Establishments

1,696

• Education & health services 6,989 35.8%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 4,315 22.1%
• Leisure & hospitality 2,480 12.7%
• Professional & business services 1,500 7.7%
• Manufacturing 904 4.6%
• Public administration 691 3.5%
• Other services 517 2.7%
• Financial activities 471 2.4%
• Construction 274 1.4%
• Information 18 0.1%

The sectors listed cover 93.1% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

72.9%

−2.0 pp vs WV · 50th of 55

Median gross rent

$810

−$62 vs WV · 22nd of 55

Owner-occupied

17,652

Renter-occupied

6,572

• Concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 71% of the county workforce. Most panelists likely share employer relationships within these sectors, surface those connections early in voir dire before any institutional-defendant or sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Manufacturing, $59,954/yr) pays 2.8× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $21,319/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 12 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 18,372 77.9%
• Democratic 4,851 20.6%
• Other / third-party 361 1.5%

• Spanish 684 1.2%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 84 0.2%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 62 0.1%
• German or other West Germanic 22 0.0%
• Korean 12 0.0%
• Arabic 11 0.0%
• Tagalog 4 0.0%

Households

24,224

Family households

15,157

62.6% of households

Married couples w/ children

3,857

25.4% of families

Single-mother families

1,261

8.3% of families

Veterans

3,416

7.4% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 23,933 40.1%
• Mainline Protestant 4,469 7.5%
• Catholic 1,517 2.5%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 675 1.1%
• Black Protestant 212 0.4%
• Orthodox 55 0.1%

Health insured

95.1%

±0.9 pp

Uninsured

4.9%

±0.9 pp

49th of 55

With a disability

23.3%

±1.6 pp

12th of 55

Bachelor's or higher

22.9%

±2 pp

−1.2 pp vs WV · 15th of 55

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

7.0%

90% interval 6.1%–7.9% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

13th Judicial Circuit Court

Judges

3 (Circuit Court judges per circuit (general civil + felony criminal jurisdiction); vintage 2026 courtswv.gov; cross-checked against W. Va. Code § 51-2-1a. Magistrate Courts (limited jurisdiction: misdemeanors, traffic, small civil up to $10K) are separately allocated one per county and not counted here. Family Court judges (domestic relations) also separate.)

Court seats

Princeton

Traffic fatalities

6

12.94 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

6