McDowell County, West Virginia | |
|---|---|
 TheMcDowell County Courthouse in Welch | |
| Nickname: Free State of McDowell | |
 Location within the U.S. state ofWest Virginia | |
 West Virginia's location within theU.S. | |
| Coordinates:37°22′58″N81°39′30″W / 37.38276°N 81.658204°W /37.38276; -81.658204 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  West Virginia |
| Founded | February 20, 1858[1] |
| Named after | James McDowell[2] |
| Seat | Welch |
| Largest city | Welch |
| Area | |
• Total | 534.899 sq mi (1,385.38 km2) |
| • Land | 533.458 sq mi (1,381.65 km2) |
| • Water | 1.441 sq mi (3.73 km2) 0.27% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 19,111 |
• Estimate (2024) | 17,147 |
| • Density | 32.141/sq mi (12.410/km2) |
| Demonym | McDowellian (Colloquial) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| Area code | 304 and 681 |
| Congressional district | 1st |
| Website | mcdowellcountycommission.com |
McDowell County is acounty in theState ofWest Virginia. As of the2020 census, the population was 19,111,[3] and was estimated to be 17,147 in 2024.[4]
Thecounty seat and the largest city isWelch.[5] McDowell County is the southernmost county in the state. It was created in 1858 by theVirginia General Assembly and named forVirginia GovernorJames McDowell.[6] It became a part of West Virginia in 1863, when several Union-affiliated counties seceded from the state of Virginia during theAmerican Civil War. McDowell County is located in theCumberland Mountains, part of theAppalachia region.
Due mostly to a decline in employment in the coal mining industry, McDowell County's population has decreased from almost 100,000 in 1950 to less than 20,000 in 2020. The people of McDowell County suffer high rates of drug abuse and poverty and have a life expectancy well below the national average.
On February 20, 1858, McDowell County was formed from the northern portion ofTazewell County,Virginia.[7] In 1861, as the nation lurched towardcivil war, delegates from McDowell County voted in favor of Virginia's secession from the United States.[8] The northwestern counties of the region were Union-affiliated and voted to secede from Virginia the following year, but McDowell,Greenbrier,Logan,Mercer,Monroe,Pocahontas,Webster, andWyoming counties in the southern section all refused to participate. The status of these eight counties would be decided by theUnited States Supreme Court in the case ofVirginia v. West Virginia.[9]
McDowell was one of fifty former Virginia counties that were recognized as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. The same year, the residents of McDowell County chose Perryville, nowEnglish, then the most populous town, as their newcounty seat.[6] However, in 1866 thestate legislature relocated the county seat to a farm near the mouth of Mill Creek. There it remained until 1874, when it returned to Perryville.[7] The location of the county seat remained in dispute until 1892, when it moved toWelch.[7]
In 1863, West Virginia's counties were divided intocivil townships, with the intention of encouraging local government. This proved impractical in the largely rural state, where population density was low. In 1872 the townships were converted intomagisterial districts.[10] McDowell County was divided into three districts: Big Creek, Elkhorn, and Sandy River. In the 1890s, Browns Creek District was formed from a portion of Elkhorn, and North Fork District was created from parts of Browns Creek and Elkhorn. A sixth district, Adkin, was created from part of Elkhorn District in the early 1900s. These districts remained stable until the 1980s, when Adkin, Elkhorn, and North Fork were consolidated into the district of North Elkin.[11]
Referring to the unconventional demographics and political state of McDowell County, a local newspaper editor described the county as "the Free State of McDowell", a description that has stuck in the popular imagination.[12] The origin of this moniker is unknown. Tom Whittico, the founder and first editor of The McDowell Times—the first African-American paper in West Virginia—said he used it because African Americans had greater electoral power, civil freedoms, and freedom from segregation in McDowell County than in other locations in the state.[13]
McDowell County had the first World War One Memorial to honor black soldiers.[13]
By the first half of the 20th century, McDowell County's economy was dominated by coal mining. In 1950, it was the "leading coal producing county" in the United States. Sixteen percent of the county's population in 1950 was employed in the coal mining sector. However, in the next few decades major breakthroughs in mechanization in the coal industry resulted in job declines. By 1960 the mining workforce had decreased from around 16,000 to around 7,000. Many people left because of the lack of jobs, but people with longstanding family ties were reluctant to do so.[14]
While running for president,John F. Kennedy visited McDowell County and promised to send help if elected. His first executive order created theFood Stamps program and the first recipients of food stamps were in McDowell County.[15] In May 1963, the increasing rate of poverty in McDowell County led President Kennedy to remark in a speech given in the city of Welch:
I don't think any American can be satisfied to find in McDowell County, in West Virginia, 20 or 25 percent of the people of that county out of work, not for 6 weeks or 12 weeks, but for a year, 2, 3, or 4 years.[16]
McDowell County, the southernmost county in West Virginia. It is bordered byTazewell County, Virginia, to the south;Buchanan County, Virginia, to the west;Mingo County to the northwest;Wyoming County to the north; andMercer County to the east. The county is located in theCumberland Mountains, a sub-region of theAppalachian Mountains. The highest elevation in the county is approximately 1,036 m (3,399 ft) on the northwest slope of Flat Top Mountain.[17]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 534.899 square miles (1,385.38 km2), of which 533.458 square miles (1,381.65 km2) is land and 1.441 square miles (3.73 km2) (0.27%) is water.[18] It is the 13rd largest county in West Virginia by total area.[19] The county is roughly in the shape of a semi-circle, with the border following the mountains around the county.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | 1,535 | — | |
| 1870 | 1,952 | 27.2% | |
| 1880 | 3,074 | 57.5% | |
| 1890 | 7,300 | 137.5% | |
| 1900 | 18,747 | 156.8% | |
| 1910 | 47,856 | 155.3% | |
| 1920 | 68,571 | 43.3% | |
| 1930 | 90,479 | 31.9% | |
| 1940 | 94,354 | 4.3% | |
| 1950 | 98,887 | 4.8% | |
| 1960 | 71,359 | −27.8% | |
| 1970 | 50,666 | −29.0% | |
| 1980 | 49,899 | −1.5% | |
| 1990 | 35,233 | −29.4% | |
| 2000 | 27,329 | −22.4% | |
| 2010 | 22,113 | −19.1% | |
| 2020 | 19,111 | −13.6% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 17,147 | [20] | −10.3% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[21] 1790–1960[22] 1900–1990[23] 1990–2000[24] 2010–2020[4] | |||
The county hit its peak of population in 1950 with almost 99,000 people, but job losses in the next decades caused sharp declines in population.
As of the first quarter of 2025, the median home value in McDowell County was $57,096.[25]
As of the 2023American Community Survey, there are 6,484 estimated households in McDowell County with an average of 2.51 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $29,980. Approximately 30.9% of the county's population lives at or below thepoverty line. McDowell County has an estimated 28.5% employment rate, with 5.8% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 75.9% holding a high school diploma.[4]
The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (97.7%), Spanish (1.6%), Indo-European (0.4%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.1%), and Other (0.1%).
The median age in the county was 43.6 years.
McDowell County, West Virginia – racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
| Race / ethnicity(NH = non-Hispanic) | Pop. 1980[26] | Pop. 1990[27] | Pop. 2000[28] | Pop. 2010[29] | Pop. 2020[30] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 41,985 (84.14%) | 30,258 (85.88%) | 23,695 (86.70%) | 19,637 (88.80%) | 15,871 (83.05%) |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 7,306 (14.64%) | 4,732 (13.43%) | 3,234 (11.83%) | 2,098 (9.49%) | 2,139 (11.19%) |
| Native American orAlaska Native alone (NH) | 25 (0.05%) | 33 (0.09%) | 46 (0.17%) | 34 (0.15%) | 20 (0.10%) |
| Asian alone (NH) | 46 (0.09%) | 26 (0.07%) | 16 (0.06%) | 15 (0.07%) | 20 (0.10%) |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | — | — | 2 (0.01%) | 0 (0.00%) | 4 (0.02%) |
| Other race alone (NH) | 38 (0.08%) | 2 (0.01%) | 10 (0.04%) | 7 (0.03%) | 45 (0.24%) |
| Mixed race or multiracial (NH) | — | — | 194 (0.71%) | 231 (1.04%) | 622 (3.25%) |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 499 (1.00%) | 182 (0.52%) | 132 (0.48%) | 91 (0.41%) | 390 (2.04%) |
| Total | 49,899 (100.00%) | 35,233 (100.00%) | 27,329 (100.00%) | 22,113 (100.00%) | 19,111 (100.00%) |
As of the2020 census, there were 19,111 people, 7,483 households, 4,627 families residing in the county.[31] Thepopulation density was 35.8 inhabitants per square mile (13.8/km2). There were 9,344 housing units at an average density of 0.0 per square mile (0.0/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 84.74%White, 11.32%African American, 0.12%Native American, 0.10%Asian, 0.02%Pacific Islander, 0.29% from some other races and 3.41% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.04% of the population.[32]
As of the2010 census, there were 22,113 people, 9,176 households, and 6,196 families residing in the county.[33] The population density was 41.5 inhabitants per square mile (16.0/km2). There were 11,322 housing units at an average density of 21.2 per square mile (8.2/km2).[34] The racial makeup of the county was 89.1% White, 9.5% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Asian, 0.0% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.4% of the population.[33] The largest ancestry groups were: 13.7% Irish, 12.0% German, 11.5% English, 8.0% American, 2.8% Sub-Saharan African, 2.7% Italian, 2.0% Dutch, and 1.1% Scotch-Irish.[35]
There were 9,176 households, 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.1% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.5% were non-families, and 28.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.86. The median age was 43.8 years.[33]
The median income for a household in the county was $22,154 and the median income for a family was $28,413. Males had a median income of $31,229 versus $26,776 for females. The per capita income for the county was $12,955. About 27.5% of families and 32.6% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 44.3% of those under age 18 and 20.1% of those age 65 or over.[36]
Of the 3,142 counties in the United States in 2013, McDowell County ranked last in the life expectancy of both male and female residents. Males in McDowell County lived an average of 63.5 years and females lived an average of 71.5 years, compared to the national average for life expectancy of 76.5 for males and 81.2 for females. Moreover, the average life expectancy in McDowell County declined by 3.2 years for males and 4.1 years for females between 1985 and 2013, compared to a national average for the same period of an increased life span of 5.5 years for men and 3.1 years for women. High rates of smoking and obesity and a low level of physical activity appear to be contributing factors to the declining life expectancy for both sexes.[37]
In 2020, theRobert Wood Johnson Foundation ranked McDowell County as 55th of the 55 counties in West Virginia in "health outcomes," as measured by length and quality of life.[38]
In 2015, McDowell County had the highest rate of drug-induced deaths of any county in the United States, with 141 deaths per 100,000 people. The rate for the United States as a whole was 14.7 per 100,000 people.[39] NeighboringWyoming County had the second highest rate.[40]
The county has been classified as a "food desert" by the USDA. In 2017, there were only two full-sizedgrocery stores to serve the county's 535 square miles (1,390 square kilometers).[41] The county's onlyWalmart Supercenter, the county's largest employer, closed in 2016.[42]
Financial services remain scant in the area. In 1999, The First National Bank of Keystone, the only bank located in thecoal town ofKeystone and the town's major employer at the time, was closed by theFDIC due to fraud. Management had been falsifying the bank's financial statements by booking income from loans the bank did not own, giving the appearance that the bank was generating large profits when it was in fact insolvent.[43] At the height of the scandal, executives buried large volumes of documents in a trench in an attempt to conceal the fraud from the bank's accounting firm and from theOffice of the Comptroller of the Currency.[44]
In 2022, McDowell was the 16th-poorest county in the U.S. (out of 3,143 counties), with a median annual household income of $28,235. The percentage of the population living in poverty was estimated at 37.6 percent.[45][46] This compares with a median annual household income of $67,521 and a poverty rate of 11.4 percent in the U.S. as a whole.[47]
The power of industrial and mining political systems turned the county towards the Republican Party between 1890 and 1932, even supportingWilliam Howard Taft during the divided1912 presidential election.[48] However, starting in1936, the county realigned towards theDemocratic Party, given its strong unionization in the coal mining sector, voting for the Democratic candidate in every election from 1936 to 2008 exceptRichard Nixon's1972 landslide.
Since1996, the county has trendedRepublican again, due to the prevailing environmentalist stances in the Democratic Party regarded as hostile towards coal mining interests. The county voted Republican in 2012 for the first time since 1972, and has since consistently voted Republican.[49][50]
In2024, RepublicanDonald Trump won the largest share of the vote ever for a Republican presidential nominee in the county, winning 79.45% of the vote. It was the secondlowest-income county Trump won, afterOwsley County, Kentucky.
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1912 | 4,341 | 46.54% | 2,497 | 26.77% | 2,489 | 26.69% |
| 1916 | 7,086 | 65.62% | 3,692 | 34.19% | 20 | 0.19% |
| 1920 | 12,198 | 70.58% | 5,068 | 29.33% | 16 | 0.09% |
| 1924 | 12,422 | 62.95% | 5,561 | 28.18% | 1,749 | 8.86% |
| 1928 | 14,810 | 64.02% | 8,294 | 35.85% | 31 | 0.13% |
| 1932 | 16,069 | 56.35% | 12,365 | 43.36% | 80 | 0.28% |
| 1936 | 9,975 | 28.11% | 25,471 | 71.79% | 35 | 0.10% |
| 1940 | 13,906 | 36.26% | 24,449 | 63.74% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1944 | 11,023 | 36.35% | 19,300 | 63.65% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 9,687 | 30.78% | 21,545 | 68.46% | 240 | 0.76% |
| 1952 | 10,663 | 30.19% | 24,657 | 69.81% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 11,138 | 39.77% | 16,865 | 60.23% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 6,555 | 25.16% | 19,501 | 74.84% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1964 | 3,684 | 16.95% | 18,046 | 83.05% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 4,020 | 21.23% | 12,842 | 67.81% | 2,075 | 10.96% |
| 1972 | 8,942 | 56.76% | 6,811 | 43.24% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1976 | 4,107 | 28.01% | 10,557 | 71.99% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1980 | 3,862 | 27.70% | 9,822 | 70.44% | 259 | 1.86% |
| 1984 | 4,284 | 33.25% | 8,546 | 66.34% | 53 | 0.41% |
| 1988 | 2,463 | 25.36% | 7,204 | 74.16% | 47 | 0.48% |
| 1992 | 1,941 | 19.84% | 7,019 | 71.76% | 821 | 8.39% |
| 1996 | 1,550 | 18.88% | 5,989 | 72.97% | 669 | 8.15% |
| 2000 | 2,348 | 32.15% | 4,845 | 66.34% | 110 | 1.51% |
| 2004 | 2,762 | 37.84% | 4,501 | 61.67% | 36 | 0.49% |
| 2008 | 2,882 | 44.82% | 3,430 | 53.34% | 118 | 1.84% |
| 2012 | 3,959 | 63.98% | 2,109 | 34.08% | 120 | 1.94% |
| 2016 | 4,629 | 74.11% | 1,438 | 23.02% | 179 | 2.87% |
| 2020 | 5,148 | 78.87% | 1,333 | 20.42% | 46 | 0.70% |
| 2024 | 4,310 | 79.45% | 1,036 | 19.10% | 79 | 1.46% |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Commissioner | Robert D. Dotson |
| Commissioner | Cecil Patterson |
| Commissioner | Michael Brooks |
| Prosecuting Attorney | Brittany Puckett |
| Sheriff | James Muncy |
| County Assessor | Sherry Burton |
| County Clerk | Donald Hicks |
| Circuit Clerk | Francine Spencer |
McDowell County Schools covers the entire county,[52] and operates the county's public K-12 education system of 7 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 2 public high schools. The high schools areMount View High School andRiver View High School. The county also has a private school, Twinbranch Pentecostal Christian Academy which is located in Twinbranch.[53]
McDowell County Schools were under state control as a 'take-over' county from 2001 to 2013.[54] Some medical services have been brought onsite into schools to reduce student absenteeism among families with only one car, and personal items such as sneakers and backpacks are now made available to students. A mixed use, multistory building inWelch aimed at reducing the housing shortage for teachers opened in 2022.[55][56]
Melville Davisson Post used McDowell County as the setting of his short story "Once In Jeopardy". This 1890s tale of the working out of a legal problem is rich in description of the people, customs, politics, and recent history of the area, including the impact of the railroad coming through and the rise of Republican influence.[57]
Author and NASA engineerHomer Hickam grew up inCoalwood, McDowell County. His memoirOctober Sky, which was adapted into a1999 Hollywood film, is based on his childhood amateur rocket building experiences in Coalwood.
ThePeabody Award winninginteractive documentary film,Hollow: An Interactive Documentary directed byElaine McMillion Sheldon, takes place in McDowell County.
U.S. Route 52
West Virginia Route 16
West Virginia Route 80
West Virginia Route 83
West Virginia Route 103
West Virginia Route 161
West Virginia Route 635TheWest Virginia Division of Highways is currently trying to construct new highways, such asU.S. Route 121, known as the Coalfields Expressway.[58]
The county had one airport,Welch Municipal Airport, which has closed indefinitely.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Places adjacent to McDowell County, West Virginia | ||||||||||||||||
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Municipalities and communities ofMcDowell County, West Virginia,United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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