8,170 people (2024 Census estimate, −3.0% since 2020)
452 square miles of land · 18 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.
5 active community water systems list Ritchie County in the area they serve, reporting 4,675 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| HARRISVILLE buys surface water · local government · WV3304303 | 2,347 served |
| PENNSBORO buys surface water · local government · WV3304306 | 1,532 served |
| ELLENBORO PSD buys surface water · local government · WV3304302 | 456 served |
| CAIRO WATER DEPARTMENT buys surface water · local government · WV3304301 | 339 served |
| HUGHES RIVER WATER surface water · private · WV3304307 | 1 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 17 people were held in Ritchie County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 342 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 18.
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 Ritchie County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $25.4 million — $19.8 million to run schools, about $15,964 per student, plus $5.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.4 million local (mostly property tax), $8.2 million state, $3.7 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Ritchie County about $5.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
127 bridges in Ritchie County: 42 in good condition, 51 fair, and 34 poor (26.8%). “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.
| WEST VIRGINIA 16 over INDIAN CREEK · built 1963 | 1,100 vehicles a day |
| WEST VIRGINIA 16 over INDIAN CREEK · built 1962 | 1,100 vehicles a day |
| WEST VIRGINIA 16 over WIGNER RUN · built 1926 | 900 vehicles a day |
| WEST VIRGINIA 16 over SOUTH FORK HUGHES RIVER · built 1962 | 650 vehicles a day |
| WEST VIRGINIA 47 over NORTH FORK HUGHES RIVER · built 1931 | 650 vehicles a day |
| WEST VIRGINIA 47 over MACFARLAN CREEK · built 1930 | 650 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $2.1 million of work in Ritchie County in fiscal 2025, about $254 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 Ritchie 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 Ritchie County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of West Virginia: the state government and every county in West Virginia.
Nearby counties: Pleasants County (14 mi) · Doddridge County (20 mi) · Wirt County (20 mi) · Gilmer County (21 mi) · Tyler County (22 mi) · Calhoun County (23 mi).