Holley Hills Estate · National Register of Historic Places
Alum Creek’s story
116 years in pictures
The archive holds 4 maps from 1909 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
- 1910Alum Creek is settled
Alum CreekWV
The town was settled in 1910 and has 1,749 residents today. A typical home costs 2 years of the Charleston metro’s $60K median household income.
Holley Hills Estate · Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
Population
1,749
Census survey, 2020–24
Typical home
$119K
−4.7% in a year
Household income
$74K
median
Median age
48.1
years
Jobs based here
118
A commuter town
Is Alum Creek a good place to live?
The best of Alum Creek’s subject grades is an A for cost of living; the weakest is a D− for schools. No town among the 62 in West Virginia we compare has a lower share of working residents who work in town than Alum Creek. Residents are less healthy than 96% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Among 62 West Virginia towns, just 2 have a lower share of adults with a bachelor’s degree than Alum Creek. Holley Hills Estate is on the National Register of Historic Places. Alum Creek has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Alum Creek stand out
Where Alum Creek beats most towns.
A commuter town
99% of working residents leave Alum Creek for work
Where Alum Creek’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
118jobs based in Alum Creek
1%of working residents work in town
12 mimedian commute distance
Census LEHD 2023
How Alum Creek grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within West Virginia), ordered by how far Alum Creek is from typical.
SchoolsBehind 96% of West Virginia districts on tests and graduationD−Open →HealthThomas Memorial Hospital 7.6 miles awayD−Open →Hazard riskInland flooding tops the listDOpen →Cost of livingAmong the best of the towns comparedAOpen →WalkabilityEPA walkability 6.1 of 20; 9.6% of households have no car; 10.3% of workers walk, bike or ride transitB+Open →Jobs & income$74K median household incomeB−Open →
Character Graded, but not part of the overall grade.
Outdoors1 mile of trailDOpen →History1 place on the National Register; 1 notable person born hereC+Open →
Described, not graded Taste, not quality: snow or an older crowd is neither good nor bad.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Getting set up
Moving to Alum Creek: who provides what
Alum Creek is unincorporated, so Kanawha County and regional agencies provide most services.
PowerAppalachian Power17.0¢/kWh · EIA 2025HIFLD · EIA
WaterLincoln PSD14 health-based violations in 5 years · EPAEPA
Internet3 providers84% of addresses get 100/20 MbpsFCC
Trash & county servicesKanawha CountyKanawha County provides services here
Register to voteOnlineIn West Virginia you can register online until 21 days before Election Day, in person until 21 days before Election Day, or by mail (postmarked 21 days before).vote.govWho runs elections hereLincoln Clerk of the County CommissionLincoln County; contacts on the Handbook page.FVAP, Jul 2021
ZIP codes25003, 2520225003 87% · 25202 13%Census 2020
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Alum Creek.
HealthD−
Alum Creek earns a D− for health
CDC measures, 32 in all: Alum Creek beats West Virginia on 1 and trails on 1. Alum Creek: 19% of adults report frequent physical distress, above both West Virginia’s towns (17%) and U.S. towns (14%). 47% of adults have high blood pressure locally.
4%healthier than U.S. townsD−Health Grade
| Alum Creek | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 47% | 44% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 18% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 12% |
32 measures vs. West Virginia
1 better30 too close to call1 worse
| What stands out | Alum Creek | WV |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 15.6% | 19.5% |
| More adults with arthritis | 41.2% | 37.7% |
Thomas Memorial Hospital
7.6 mi away · emergency room
3 of 3
care shortages: primary care, dental, mental health
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Natural hazardsHazard risk grade D
Top of a very high hazard risk in Alum Creek: inland flooding
Alum Creek’s natural-hazard score from FEMA comes in at 91 of 100. FEMA puts 86% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 6% to heat waves. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
91risk score of 100
FEMA risk score
Inland floodingHeat waves
9
federal disasters paid out here
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Work & commuteJobs & income grade B−
Alum Creek has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Alum Creek: just over one in ten residents live below the poverty line. Only 1% of working residents stay in Alum Creek for work; the rest commute out. Jobs based locally fell to 118 in 2023, 69 fewer than in 2013. The typical journey to work for Alum Creek comes to 27 minutes, where West Virginia’s towns sit at 21 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes.
1%work in town
| Alum Creek | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 21 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 16% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
In Alum Creek1%
Charleston32%
South Charleston10%
Huntington4%
Dunbar2%
12 mi
median commute distance
118
jobs based in Alum Creek
A commuter town
jobs vs. working residents
B+
Walkability grade: more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
HousingCost of living grade A
Alum Creek stands out in West Virginia and nationally: a larger share of its households own their home
Homes in Alum Creek are typically worth about $119,000, down 4.7% in a year, 33% below the West Virginia typical home.
$119KZillow home value
Typical home value
Alum Creek$119K
West Virginia$177K
−4.7%
value change, 1 year
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Climate
Alum Creek has four seasons and pleasant summers
July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 25° and about 17 inches of snow falls in a winter.
17″snow a winter
Typical low → high °F
Winter27–46°
Spring43–68°
Summer63–85°
Fall45–69°
Oct 20
typical first frost
Apr 23
typical last frost
+1.0°
vs. the 20th-century average
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
0%conserved
0%
conserved · 0 of 6,542 acres
1.4 mi
of trails · 0.1 per sq mi
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Keep exploring
Everything we know about Alum Creek
18pages on Alum Creek
The big questions
Out and about
The story
After high school
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Alum Creek
West Virginia State UniversityUniversity or college · Public · Institute7.5 mi$9,570 in-state tuitionBridgeValley Community & Technical CollegeCommunity college · Public · South Charleston8.8 mi$5,800 in-state tuitionUniversity of CharlestonUniversity or college · Private nonprofit · Charleston12.4 mi$33,800 tuition
About 1 of every 100 Alum Creek residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across West Virginia.
About Alum Creek
Census-designated place in West Virginia, United States
Alum Creek is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kanawha and Lincoln counties along the Coal River in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It includes the unincorporated communities of Alum Creek, Forks of Coal, and Priestley. The CDP had a population of 1,595 at the 2020 census, down from 1,749 at the 2010 census. The community was named after nearby Alum Creek, a tributary of the Coal River.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 10 sq mi
- Elevation
- 620 ft
- ZIP code
- 25003
Questions about Alum Creek
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Alum Creek, WV expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.