23,650 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.7% since 2020)
355 square miles of land · 67 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.
7 active community water systems list Upshur County in the area they serve, reporting 21,873 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BUCKHANNON WATER BOARD surface water · local government · WV3304902 | 8,098 served |
| ADRIAN P S D buys surface water · public/private · WV3304911 | 5,327 served |
| ELKINS ROAD PSD buys surface water · local government · WV3304909 | 2,890 served |
| MOUNT HOPE WATER ASSOC buys surface water · local government · WV3304905 | 2,870 served |
| HODGESVILLE PSD RT 20 buys surface water · local government · WV3304908 | 2,161 served |
| HODGESVILLE PSD LORENTZ SYSTEM buys surface water · private · WV3304912 | 376 served |
| HODGESVILLE PSD - SAULS RUN buys surface water · private · WV3304913 | 151 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 71 people were held in Upshur County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 491 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 91.
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 Upshur County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $51.7 million — $49 million to run schools, about $12,988 per student, plus $2.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12.5 million local (mostly property tax), $31.1 million state, $12.2 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 Upshur County about $11.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
98 bridges in Upshur County: 22 in good condition, 65 fair, and 11 poor (11.2%). “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.
| COUNTY ROUTE 9 SLS over BUCKHANNON RIVER · built 1935 | 4,200 vehicles a day |
| WV 20 over FRENCH CREEK · built 1960 | 3,500 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE 30 over RT FORK MIDDLE FORK RIV · built 1977 | 300 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE 46/4 over LT FK RT FK LI KANAWHA R · built 1952 | 110 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE 20/6 over TURKEY RUN · built 1920 | 100 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE 8 SLS over SAND RUN · built 1914 | 50 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $13.1 million of work in Upshur County in fiscal 2025, about $552 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 Upshur 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 Upshur County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of West Virginia: the state government and every county in West Virginia.
Nearby counties: Lewis County (15 mi) · Barbour County (21 mi) · Randolph County (21 mi) · Harrison County (27 mi) · Braxton County (30 mi) · Webster County (31 mi).