72,379 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.7% since 2020)
605 square miles of land · 120 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.
13 active community water systems list Raleigh County in the area they serve, reporting 72,063 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BECKLEY WATER COMPANY surface water · private · WV3304104 | 47,386 served |
| RALEIGH COUNTY PSD ARNETT buys surface water · local government · WV3304140 | 6,663 served |
| RALEIGH COUNTY MEM AIRPORT buys surface water · private · WV3304138 | 4,587 served |
| COOL RIDGE FLAT TOP PSD buys surface water · local government · WV3304139 | 4,190 served |
| RALEIGH COUNTY PSD COAL CITY groundwater · local government · WV3304123 | 3,415 served |
| WVAWC GLADE SPRINGS DISTRICT buys surface water · private · WV3304111 | 1,747 served |
| RALEIGH COUNTY PSD CLEAR CREEK buys surface water · local government · WV3304151 | 1,407 served |
| RALEIGH COUNTY PSD ODD buys surface water · local government · WV3304150 | 813 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 161 people were held in Raleigh County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 367 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 189.
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 Raleigh County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $180.3 million — $144.7 million to run schools, about $13,318 per student, plus $32.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $54.2 million local (mostly property tax), $90.4 million state, $31.9 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 Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Raleigh County about $20 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
226 bridges in Raleigh County: 17 in good condition, 153 fair, and 56 poor (24.8%). “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.
| WV 16 over BECKLEY BIKE & PED TRAIL · built 1959 | 16,200 vehicles a day |
| US 19A EB over CO 4/1 · built 1978 | 14,000 vehicles a day |
| US 19A WB over CO 4/1 · built 1979 | 14,000 vehicles a day |
| WV. 16 over Cova Street · built 1958 | 13,600 vehicles a day |
| WV 16 over WV 16 Ramps CSX city · built 1960 | 13,600 vehicles a day |
| WV RT 16 over Ramp Conn. I77 and WV 16 · built 1983 | 13,600 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $42.3 million of work in Raleigh County in fiscal 2025, about $567 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 Raleigh 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 Raleigh County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of West Virginia: the state government and every county in West Virginia.
Nearby counties: Wyoming County (19 mi) · Fayette County (21 mi) · Summers County (23 mi) · Mercer County (26 mi) · Boone County (30 mi) · McDowell County (34 mi).