State profile
West Virginia Cost of Living Comparison
West Virginia's 2024 price level is 89.497, 10.5% below the national level, and it has the lowest rents in the country: a rent parity of 54.241 and a two-bedroom median of $896.
Updated
89.497West Virginia all-items price level, U.S. = 100 · rank 9 of 51, lowest first
| Measure | West Virginia | North Dakota | First − second |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-items price level | 89.497 | 88.959 | +0.538 points |
| Rent price level | 54.241 | 71.421 | −17.180 points |
| Home value | $162,600±$1,346 | $249,900±$2,909 | −$87,300 |
| Two-bedroom gross rent | $896±$12 | $950±$14 | −$54 |
| Household income | $59,608±$691 | $76,657±$1,163 | −$17,049 |
| Real estate taxes paid | $865±$9 | $2,468±$38 | −$1,603 |
$4,000 of monthly spending in West Virginia scales to $3,976 in North Dakota at the 2024 all-items price ratio.
BEA 2024 and ACS 2020–2024; ± marks the Census 90% margin. How to read a gap
West Virginia: the cheapest housing anywhere, average prices for everything else
West Virginia is last of 51 on almost every housing number. The median home value of $162,600, the two-bedroom gross-rent median of $896 and median monthly owner costs both with a mortgage ($1,255) and without one ($398) are the lowest in the country, and the median real estate tax paid, $865 a year, ranks 50th.
The rest of the budget is not cheap. Goods (96.539), utilities (92.242) and other services (99.940) all sit within a few points of the national level, ranking 27th to 30th. The state's low headline price level comes almost entirely from housing.
Incomes are low. Incomes are second-lowest in the country on both the household median and price-adjusted income per person, which runs about 15.4% below the U.S. figure. Renters still spend 29.4% of income on gross rent, rank 25.
Prices jumped early in the decade. The all-items parity rose from 87.334 in 2020 to 90.981 in 2021, the largest one-year gain of any jurisdiction that year, and has since settled at 89.497.
The state government collected $6.95 billion in fiscal 2025, $3,936 per resident (rank 30). Individual income tax supplied 31.0%, general sales 27.1%, other selective sales 19.0% and severance taxes 7.2%.
Every neighbour is dearer. Kentucky (90.159) is closest, then Ohio (92.774), Pennsylvania (97.572), Virginia (101.104) and Maryland (104.959), where the two-bedroom median is $1,740, or $844 a month more. North Dakota (88.959) is the nearest price level nationally.
Category price levels in West Virginia
| Category | Parity | Rank, low first | vs U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|
| All items | 89.497 | 9 | 10.50% below |
| Goods | 96.539 | 27 | 3.46% below |
| Housing (rents) | 54.241 | 1 | 45.76% below |
| Utilities | 92.242 | 30 | 7.76% below |
| Other services | 99.940 | 28 | 0.06% below |
| Real income per person, 2017 $ | $50,051 | 50 | U.S. $59,195 |
All items by year: 2020 87.334 · 2021 90.981 · 2022 89.157 · 2023 89.633 · 2024 89.497 (+2.163 since 2020). How to read categories and trends
Monthly housing costs
- Owners with a mortgage
- $1,255±$13 · rank 51, high first
- Owners without a mortgage
- $398±$3 · rank 51
- Renters: gross rent / income
- 29.4%±0.7 · rank 25
West Virginia state tax collections, FY2025
$6.95 billion in total, $3,936 per resident. Scope of these figures
| Tax | FY2025 | Share | Per resident |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual income | $2.16 billion | 31.0% | $1,221 |
| General sales | $1.89 billion | 27.1% | $1,068 |
| Property | $10.3 million | 0.1% | $6 |
| Motor fuel | $431.0 million | 6.2% | $244 |
| Other selective sales | $1.32 billion | 19.0% | $748 |
| Corporate income | $376.2 million | 5.4% | $213 |
| Licenses | $234.6 million | 3.4% | $133 |
| Severance | $498.6 million | 7.2% | $282 |
| Other taxes | $35.2 million | 0.5% | $20 |
West Virginia beside its neighbours
| Jurisdiction | All items | Rents | Goods | 2BR rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | 89.497 | 54.241 | 96.539 | $896 |
| Kentucky | 90.159 | 64.313 | 95.967 | $968 |
| Maryland | 104.959 | 121.079 | 102.524 | $1,740 |
| Ohio | 92.774 | 73.012 | 93.670 | $1,063 |
| Pennsylvania | 97.572 | 85.068 | 99.357 | $1,245 |
| Virginia | 101.104 | 106.799 | 100.368 | $1,481 |
Before you budget a move
West Virginia has the lowest housing price parity among states in this verified release. That rental-price finding is a state-level comparison, not a promise about a selected lease or home purchase. The all-items index answers a broader question and can rank differently because it includes other consumption categories.
For Charleston-area, Morgantown-area or another destination, collect the actual compensation and travel requirements alongside housing. A cross-border job needs its own prepared tax inputs. Median household income and owner-occupied value describe different populations and should not be interpreted as an affordability outcome for the same surveyed household.
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