TheUnited States Census Bureau separatesplaces byincorporation for statistical purposes during its decennial census. To incorporate, communities may need to meet statutory requirements made by their respective state, such as thresholds in population or specificities relative to location.^[a] Federally, the Census Bureau defines incorporated places as areas, whose boundaries do not cross state lines, that "provide governmental functions for a concentration of people", as opposed to "minor civil [divisions], which generally ... provide services or administer an area without regard, necessarily, to population".^[5] Unincorporated communities, classified ascensus-designated places (CDPs), lack elected municipal officers and boundaries with legal status.^[5] The Bureau identified 205 CDPs in the state ofWest Virginia at the2020 census.

The Municipal Code of West Virginia, which governs incorporation, requires applicantmunicipal corporations (places for incorporation) that cover an area more than 1 square mile (2.6 km²) to have a minimum of 500 inhabitants or freeholders per square mile, and those under 1 square mile to have at least 100 inhabitants or freeholders. Applicant areas must not reside within a municipality "urban in character", nor claim an area "disproportionate to its number of inhabitants".^[6] Upon approval, the state classifies municipal corporations as a Class I city, with a population of more than fifty thousand, a Class II city, with a population between ten thousand and fifty thousand, a Class III city, with a population between two thousand and ten thousand, or a Class IV town or village, with a population of less than two thousand.^[7] All municipalities can "use a common seal", defend, maintain, or institute a proceeding in court, and hold, take, purchase, or lease, as lessee, property for municipal purposes.^[8]

Of the fifty-fivecounties in West Virginia,Logan is home to the most CDPs, with twenty-five, followed byFayette, with twenty, andRaleigh, with eighteen. The largest CDP by population isTeays Valley, with 14,350 residents, whileBowden, with 0 residents over 0.12 square miles (0.31 km²), represents the state's smallest CDP by both population and area.^[9]

• 
  TheBirch River, located inthe town of the same name, is atributary of theElk River.^[10]
• 
  The houses ofBoomer, as seen from across theKanawha River in May 1975
• 
  A child returning to school with an ice cream cone inChattaroy. Photographed as a part of theDOCUMERICA series, which aimed to "photographically document subjects of environmental concern", the image's title states that Chattaroy "[had] no industry" and that "most of the people [survived] onwelfare, pensions,Social Security, andblack lung benefits" in April 1974.^[11][12]
• 
  The Coal City Club inCoal City, pictured in June 1974; some miners outside were "hunkering down", a "familiar stance to all miners who use this posture in the mine shafts which have low ceilings".^[13]
• 
  TheBank of Glen Jean inthe town of the same name was constructed in 1909.^[14]
• 
  Otterbein United Methodist Church inGreen Spring
• 
  The Daniel Fry House inMiddleway
• 
  A DOCUMERICA image ofRand, with "much of its population living in poverty" in June 1973^[15]
• 
  The Red Jacket Consolidated Coal and Coke Company constructedRed Jacket(pictured) in 1905.^[16]
• 
  A post office inShenandoah Junction
• 
  ThePeerless Coal Company Store inVivian was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.^[17]

• List of municipalities in West Virginia

• Census-designated places in West Virginia
• Lists of places in West Virginia
• Lists of census-designated places in the United States

• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 errors: ISBN date
• CS1 errors: periodical ignored
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use American English from July 2025
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Use mdy dates from July 2023
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas