173,906 people (2024 Census estimate, −3.5% since 2020)
902 square miles of land · 193 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
3 active community water systems list Kanawha County in the area they serve, reporting 223,101 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| WVAWC-KANAWHA VALLEY DIST surface water · private · WV3302016 | 209,283 served |
| ST ALBANS WATER surface water · local government · WV3302031 | 13,758 served |
| REAMER HILL WATER ASSOC buys surface water · private · WV3302077 | 60 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 432 people were held in Kanawha County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 402 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 503.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
1 school district has its office in Kanawha County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $435.5 million — $340.4 million to run schools, about $14,265 per student, plus $85.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $146.4 million local (mostly property tax), $198.1 million state, $98.1 million federal.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively High compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Kanawha County about $142.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
555 bridges in Kanawha County: 105 in good condition, 381 fair, and 69 poor (12.4%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| I-64 E & W over KAN R WV61 CSX RR US119 · built 1975 | 84,279 vehicles a day |
| I-77 NB & SB over US 60 · built 1975 | 47,700 vehicles a day |
| CR 25/47 over 10TH st. US Rt 60 Kan R · built 1953 | 18,959 vehicles a day |
| WV. 601 over DAVIS CREEK · built 1959 | 18,600 vehicles a day |
| US 60 over KANAWHA RIVER & BLVD · built 1930 | 15,950 vehicles a day |
| CR 60/64 over I-64 EB & WB · built 1974 | 15,600 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $614.6 million of work in Kanawha County in fiscal 2025, about $3,400 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for West Virginia are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Kanawha County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Kanawha County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of West Virginia: the state government and every county in West Virginia.
Nearby counties: Boone County (23 mi) · Putnam County (24 mi) · Clay County (26 mi) · Roane County (30 mi) · Fayette County (31 mi) · Lincoln County (32 mi).