These Are The 10 Most Boring Places In West Virginia


We used data and science to identify which places in West Virginia are total snoozefests.

Nick Johnson, RoadSnacks
January 28, 2016 - 24,782 views
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This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

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There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in West Virginia that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.

Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in WV are so lucky.

Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within West Virginia’s borders. You know the places: the ones where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.

Like Bethlehem, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of West Virginia. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Bethlehem. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in West Virginia as well.

Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement:

  1. Bethlehem
  2. Bridgeport
  3. Summersville
  4. Fayetteville
  5. Bluefield
  6. Madison
  7. Richwood
  8. Follansbee
  9. Pleasant Valley
  10. New Martinsville

Before you get all upset if your city’s name is on the list, rest assured that we didn’t use personal opinion when it comes to what classifies a city or town as “boring” or “exciting”. We crunched actual numbers to figure out which towns are statistically more boring.

By the way, where are the most exciting places in West Virginia according to science? They are Morgantown, Huntington, Keyser, Fairmont and Buckhannon. That sounds about right.

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How we determined the boring cities in the Mountain State

To figure out how boring a place is, we rely on a complex algorithm that factors in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people. We used the U.S. Census data to gather the information. Here are some of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring:

  • % of Population Over 35 (higher is more boring)
  • % of Married Household (higher is more boring)
  • Average Age (higher is more boring)
  • % of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)
  • % of Households with People Over 65 (higher is more boring)
  • Population density (lower is more boring)

Then, our algorithm generates several lists of the cities that have plenty of residents with high rankings in all of these categories. After a crunching of the numbers, a list of all of the cities magically appears listing them from most boring to most exciting.

For this list, we used every West Virginia city that qualified for our rankings based on having a population of at least 2,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.

Grab your rocker and hold on.

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1. Bethlehem

Boring West Virginia

Source: Public Domain

Population: 2,543
Average Age: 45.8
Married Households: 58.1%
Households With Kids: 28.3%

2. Bridgeport

Boring West Virginia

Source: Public Domain

Population: 8,260
Average Age: 44.1
Married Households: 57.5%
Households With Kids: 32.0%

3. Summersville

Boring West Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 3,570
Average Age: 50.5
Married Households: 62.2%
Households With Kids: 20.6%

4. Fayetteville

Boring West Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 2,926
Average Age: 40.6
Married Households: 48.5%
Households With Kids: 28.1%

5. Bluefield

Boring West Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 10,492
Average Age: 45.2
Married Households: 48.9%
Households With Kids: 26.4%

6. Madison

Boring West Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 3,065
Average Age: 46.0
Married Households: 53.1%
Households With Kids: 25.4%

7. Richwood

Boring West Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 2,574
Average Age: 50.3
Married Households: 45.9%
Households With Kids: 24.1%

8. Follansbee

Boring West Virginia

Source: Public Domain

Population: 2,968
Average Age: 52.5
Married Households: 42.9%
Households With Kids: 21.9%

9. Pleasant Valley

Boring West Virginia

Source: Public Domain

Population: 3,167
Average Age: 47.1
Married Households: 46.3%
Households With Kids: 23.5%

10. New Martinsville

Boring West Virginia

Source: Public Domain

Population: 5,329
Average Age: 47.7
Married Households: 48.0%
Households With Kids: 23.1%

Now That You’re Asleep

On a list like this, there are usually no winners, but since West Virginia isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States (barely), the cities on this list can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.

Just not these places.

Detailed List Of Boring to Exciting Cities In West Virginia

City Rank Population Average Age Married Households Households With Kids
Bethlehem 1 2,543 45.8 58.1% 28.3%
Bridgeport 2 8,260 44.1 57.5% 32.0%
Summersville 3 3,570 50.5 62.2% 20.6%
Fayetteville 4 2,926 40.6 48.5% 28.1%
Bluefield 5 10,492 45.2 48.9% 26.4%
Madison 6 3,065 46.0 53.1% 25.4%
Richwood 7 2,574 50.3 45.9% 24.1%
Follansbee 8 2,968 52.5 42.9% 21.9%
Pleasant Valley 9 3,167 47.1 46.3% 23.5%
New Martinsville 10 5,329 47.7 48.0% 23.1%
Oak Hill 11 8,195 42.2 48.5% 30.2%
St. Albans 12 11,009 45.5 52.0% 26.7%
Weirton 13 19,634 45.7 45.4% 24.7%
Hinton 14 2,643 47.7 40.3% 18.4%
Wellsburg 15 2,778 47.6 47.7% 23.5%
Barboursville 16 3,998 45.4 47.7% 18.5%
Milton 17 2,462 47.3 51.5% 15.7%
Paden City 18 2,503 45.5 50.1% 26.6%
Williamson 19 3,147 48.2 40.7% 21.9%
Chester 20 2,565 41.5 53.7% 30.4%
Ripley 21 3,262 41.1 42.6% 24.7%
Williamstown 22 2,910 44.1 57.4% 29.4%
Spencer 23 2,526 42.1 48.8% 26.1%
Point Pleasant 24 4,349 44.0 47.2% 29.8%
Winfield 25 2,493 40.5 59.1% 31.3%
Kingwood 26 2,947 43.5 56.6% 24.2%
St. Marys 27 2,049 42.7 49.7% 23.2%
Mullens 28 2,184 39.9 48.4% 28.5%
Charles Town 29 5,349 37.3 63.0% 34.2%
Lewisburg 30 3,890 43.9 51.3% 22.0%
Moundsville 31 9,048 46.5 47.0% 23.0%
Shinnston 32 2,633 39.9 49.8% 27.8%
Hurricane 33 6,336 38.5 57.6% 41.4%
Mannington 34 2,053 41.5 47.0% 33.3%
Vienna 35 10,697 43.0 56.2% 27.2%
Welch 36 2,697 43.8 33.2% 22.5%
Harrisville 37 2,116 44.9 41.6% 24.8%
Wheeling 38 28,439 46.1 43.3% 21.6%
White Sulphur Springs 39 2,490 40.7 42.2% 28.6%
Belington 40 2,380 32.5 50.3% 36.3%
South Charleston 41 13,528 43.7 47.4% 21.9%
Grafton 42 5,180 43.1 38.7% 24.5%
Petersburg 43 2,778 42.9 45.5% 23.4%
Ravenswood 44 3,882 44.2 40.1% 24.5%
Nitro 45 7,040 40.3 49.1% 26.0%
Romney 46 2,026 45.8 26.6% 14.0%
Moorefield 47 2,530 41.2 33.2% 13.9%
Princeton 48 6,454 40.3 40.5% 29.8%
Parkersburg 49 31,357 42.3 44.9% 25.9%
Kenova 50 3,179 39.9 34.8% 26.0%
Clarksburg 51 16,512 36.9 45.4% 30.2%
Charleston 52 51,135 41.5 41.3% 23.2%
#N/A 53 4,552 31.4 39.0% 42.9%
Weston 54 4,116 37.9 41.6% 36.1%
Beckley 55 17,653 39.3 40.7% 28.1%
Dunbar 56 7,878 41.3 35.3% 27.5%
Wayne 57 2,359 37.9 44.4% 35.1%
Elkins 58 7,189 40.0 38.3% 24.8%
Philippi 59 3,075 35.7 35.0% 23.3%
Martinsburg 60 17,418 35.1 41.3% 33.2%
Westover 61 4,054 39.4 42.7% 25.5%
Buckhannon 62 5,636 30.2 33.5% 23.5%
Fairmont 63 18,812 35.8 41.3% 24.9%
Keyser 64 5,375 36.9 29.3% 20.3%
Huntington 65 49,150 35.6 35.7% 22.4%
Morgantown 66 29,838 23.2 21.2% 14.4%

About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.

 Boring