By population Huntington, WV is 150th of 387 US metropolitan areas, with 370,729 residents. A count of the local trades and a read on where advertising is contested and where it is open.
Its principal cities are Huntington and Ashland; the metro crosses into Kentucky and Ohio.
Household income runs $60,078 here, which is 26 percent below the national figure. Owner-occupied homes carry a median value of $154,700, 54 percent below the national figure; the national comparison point is $332,700. For a business that sells to homeowners, that combination sets the ceiling on what a job is worth.
Who lives here matters as much as how many. Homeownership stands at 73.6%, 8 points above the US share. Bachelor's degree or higher: 23.5% of adults, 12 points below the US share. A older-than-average population: median age 41.9, 3 years above the national median. Unemployment 4.8%, about the same as the US share.
Relative to West Virginia, household income in Huntington, WV is about the same as the West Virginia figure, home values are 5 percent lower than the West Virginia figure, and businesses per 1,000 residents are 6 percent thinner than the West Virginia figure.
There are 7,018 employer businesses in Huntington, WV. Set against the population that is 18.9 per 1,000 residents, 24 percent below the national figure, against 25 nationally. Home-services trades account for 309 of them (4.4% of all establishments, about the same as the US share).
| Category | Locations | Per 100k people | Local ÷ US share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automobile dealers | 63 | 17 | 1.60× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 11 | 3 | 1.42× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 137 | 37 | 1.20× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 608 | 164 | 1.17× |
| Physicians' offices | 196 | 52.9 | 1.07× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 96 | 25.9 | 1.03× |
| Roofing contractors | 22 | 5.9 | 1.03× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 83 | 22.4 | 0.99× |
| Self-storage facilities | 15 | 4 | 0.96× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 34 | 9.2 | 0.95× |
| General automotive repair | 67 | 18.1 | 0.94× |
| Legal services | 142 | 38.3 | 0.93× |
| Electrical contractors | 62 | 16.7 | 0.89× |
| Landscaping services | 86 | 23.2 | 0.87× |
| Child day care services | 57 | 15.4 | 0.83× |
| Dentists | 85 | 22.9 | 0.75× |
| Beauty salons | 42 | 11.3 | 0.59× |
| Personal care services (all) | 79 | 21.3 | 0.59× |
| General freight trucking | 58 | 15.6 | 0.59× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 9 | 2.4 | 0.46× |
Index: local share of all establishments divided by the US share; above 1 means the trade is more common here than nationally.
Where competition is thickest: automobile dealers, road and paving contractors, real estate lessors and restaurants all hold a larger share of the local base than they do nationally. Automobile dealers are the widest gap, 63 of them, 1.6 times the national share. Under-represented categories: concrete contractors, beauty salons, personal care services and general freight trucking. Concrete contractors show the largest gap, 9 locations, about half of what the national mix would give. Plumbing and HVAC contractors, roofing contractors and electrical contractors track the US share closely.
Per 100,000 residents: restaurants 164, followed by physicians' offices and legal services. Counted by establishments, the order is restaurants (608), physicians' offices (196), legal services (142). Taken as groups, the strongest relative to the US mix are automotive businesses (1.2 times the national share) and the weakest are the home-services trades (about the same as).
Many competitors in automobile dealers, road and paving contractors and real estate lessors means the auction is expensive and the map pack is crowded; the winners are the profiles with the freshest reviews and the pages that answer the search precisely. The thin categories, concrete contractors, beauty salons and personal care services, are the cheapest place to build a name: fewer bidders, cheaper clicks, and searchers with fewer options. A median age 3 years above the national median means a larger share of customers who still start with a Google search and read reviews before calling, so the search-plus-reviews stack earns its keep. High homeownership (73.6%) means a large pool of people who pay for their own repairs, replacements and yard work, which favors the home-services trades in this market. Incomes 26 percent below the national figure mean value and clarity carry the message; offers should be plain and the path to a call short.
Six places to begin in Huntington, WV; the complete list is one click away.
Service and area pages written to answer real questions.
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The map listing, kept accurate, photographed and posted to every week.
Search optimization aimed at the local queries that produce calls.
A website that loads fast, states the offer and gets the visitor to the phone.
Every Google review answered promptly in the business's own voice.
Huntington, WV has 370,729 residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 150th of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Huntington, WV is $60,078 (ACS 2024 5-year), below the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 7,018 employer establishments in Huntington, WV (County Business Patterns 2023), or 18.9 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Huntington, WV is $154,700, and 73.6% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), automobile dealers, road and paving contractors and real estate lessors have more establishments per resident than the US average; concrete contractors, beauty salons and personal care services have fewer in Huntington, WV.
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Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.