Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 9,329.
Charles Town gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $407K, 3.2 years of the Washington metro’s $127K median household income. It grades B+ overall, 8th of 61 graded towns in West Virginia. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 94% of U.S. towns, with 28 places on the National Register. Charles Town’s average trip to work is 36 minutes, against 21 minutes in West Virginia’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Jefferson County Courthouse and Charles Washington House. No town among the 52 in West Virginia we compare has a higher typical home value than Charles Town.
Where Charles Town beats most towns.
Jefferson County Courthouse
Jefferson County Courthouse is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,507 in 1850, 6,534 in 2020. The archive holds 30 old photos and papers going back to 1825 and 6 maps from 1914 on.
21 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within West Virginia), ordered by how far Charles Town is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Charles Town. Close and well known come first.
Big draw14 mi LandmarkMount Weather Emergency Operations Center
30 mi National ParkShenandoah National Park1.7M visitors a year
34 mi MuseumSteven F. Udvar-Hazy Center1.6M visitors a year
14 mi National BattlefieldAntietam National Battlefield161K visitors a year
5 mi National Historical ParkHarpers Ferry National Historical Park538K visitors a year
37 mi Theme parkLake Fairfax ParkMount Weather Emergency Operations Center: Unknown, Public domain · Shenandoah National Park: Image copyright 2005 by user G. Edward Johnson (user Lorax) and released under t, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Antietam National Battlefield: Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Harpers Ferry National Historical Park: Mark Fickett, CC BY 3.0 · Lake Fairfax Park: Joe Loong, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Charles Town, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Charles Town.
Charles Town carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of West Virginia (mostly inland flooding), fares better on crime within West Virginia than nationally and sends many workers across the state line to Leesburg.
The median property tax bill is $2,213, against $865 across West Virginia, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Charles Town home is worth about $407,000, up 3.4% in a year, more than twice the West Virginia typical home.
| Charles Town | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 75% | 68% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,115 a month | $874 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Jefferson County Schools. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Washington High School, with 1,458 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Town Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 603 | B− |
| Washington High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,458 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WV on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 90% of West Virginia towns, with expected losses of about $386 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Charles Town is 22 of 100. Since 1985, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Charles Town.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 12.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 89% of West Virginia’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 86 to 59 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Charles Town’s violent crime rate is 0.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Charles Town | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 0.7 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.7 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 12.3 per 1,000 residents | 14.8 | 11.5 |
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
Charles Town has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 23° and about 23 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Within West Virginia it is healthier than 87% of the 61 graded towns: much of West Virginia scores lower on these measures. Against the 10,028 U.S. towns with household incomes like Charles Town’s, it is less healthy than 81%, so it trails even them.
Charles Town beats the West Virginia average on 11 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 27% of Charles Town adults have been diagnosed with depression. Only 5 of the 61 West Virginia towns we compare have a lower share of adults who report frequent physical distress than Charles Town.
| Charles Town | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 31% | 23% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 34% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 21% | 17% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 44% | 35% |
| What stands out | Charles Town | WV |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with COPD | 7.1% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 6.3% | 8.7% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 75.6% | 79.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
41% of working residents cross a state line to work, Leesburg among the top destinations. Charles Town has about as many jobs (2,868) as working residents, but only 238 people both live and work here.
21% of workers work from home in Charles Town. Among 61 West Virginia towns, just 4 have a higher median household income than Charles Town. 6.5% of residents live below the poverty line in Charles Town.
| Charles Town | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 21% | 9.8% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.5% | 17% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $89,000 | $59,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 8% | 14% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
1.1 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Willingham Knolls Park, at 62 acres.
| Charles Town | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.1% | 2.5% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Willingham Knolls Park | — | 62 |
| 2. Jefferson Memorial Park | — | 13 |
| 3. Evitts Run Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
3 within 15 miles of the center of Charles Town
About 4 of every 100 Charles Town residents are enrolled in college, about the same as West Virginia.
5,259 counted in 2010 and 6,534 in 2020; an estimated 9,329 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 42.8% since 2020, after 24.2% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
21 places in Charles Town on the National Register of Historic Places.
12 notable people were born in Charles Town.
City in West Virginia, US
Charles Town is a city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 6,534 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 8,869 in 2024. The city is named for its founder Charles Washington, youngest brother of President George Washington. It is part of the northwestern fringes of the Washington metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Charles Town.
| Town | WV rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Town | #8 | B+ | A | B+ | B− | C |
| Ranson corporation | #11 | B+ | A | — | B− | D |
Ranson corporation reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Charles Town with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Charles Town grades B+ overall, better than 73% of U.S. towns and #8 of 61 in West Virginia. It grades C for health, B+ for safety and B− for schools.
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.
12 notable people were born here, including Martin R. Delany and Thomas Worthington.
