Barbour County (West Virginia)
Barbour County is a county located in the state of West Virginia in the United States. The administrative headquarters ( County Seat) is Philippi.
Geography
The County is located in the northeast of West Virginia and has an area of 888 square kilometers, of which five square miles are water. It is bordered clockwise to the following counties: Taylor County, Tucker County, Randolph County, Upshur County and Harrison County.
History
Barbour County was formed on March 3, 1843 from parts of Harrison County, Lewis County and Randolph County. It was named for Philip Pendleton Barbour, a member of the House of Representatives, Supreme Court of the United States and the brother of U.S. Minister of War James Barbour. On 3 June 1861 the first land battle of the American Civil War took place at the battle of Philippi here.
Demographic data
1900-1990
According to the census in 2000 lived in Barbour County 15,557 people in 6,123 households and 4,365 families. The population density was 18 people per square kilometer. The racial the population was made up of 97.36 percent White, 0.49 percent African American, 0.71 percent Native American, 0.26 percent Asian, 0.02 percent of residents from the Pacific Islander, and 0.12 percent from other races groups; 1.03 percent were descended from two or more races. 0.47 percent of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 6,123 households out of which 30.1 percent have children under the age of 18 living with them. 57.2 percent were married couples living together, 10.3 percent were single mothers, 28.7 percent were non-families, 25.1 percent of all households and 12.6 percent lived in people aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.94.
Based on the county the population was spread out 23.0 percent of residents under the age of 18, 9.4 percent between 18 and 24 years, 26.8 percent between 25 and 44 years, 25.2 percent between 45 and 64 years and 15.6 percent were 65 years old or older. The average age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.0 men statistically.
The median income for a household was $ 24,729, and the median income for a family was $ 29,722. Males have a median income of $ 24,861, women $ 17,433. The per capita income was $ 12,440. 22.6 percent of the population and 18.4 percent of the population lived below the poverty line. Of these, 32.0 percent were children or adolescents under age 18 and 16.7 percent of those 65 years.