Crab OrchardWV
A town of 1,139, settled in 1911.
Is Crab Orchard a good place to live?
The best of Crab Orchard’s subject grades are a B+ for cost of living and a B for schools; the weakest is a D for health. Crab Orchard’s age of the median resident is 61.8 years, against 42.2 years in West Virginia’s towns and 40.5 years across U.S. towns. Among 62 West Virginia towns, just 2 have a lower share of adults with a bachelor’s degree than Crab Orchard. On the outdoors, just 3 of West Virginia’s 141 towns do worse. Crab Orchard has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
1,139 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
How Crab Orchard grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within West Virginia), ordered by how far Crab Orchard is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and 5 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Crab Orchard. Close and well known come first.
9 mi National PreserveNew River Gorge National Park and Preserve2.0M visitors a year
13 mi Park & preserveThe Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve
17 mi MuseumThurmond
4 mi MuseumPhillips-Sprague Mine
17 mi National park siteBluestone National Scenic River12K visitors a year
32 mi National Recreation AreaGauley River National Recreation Area214K visitors a yearPhoto credits
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve: NKS22, Public domain · The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve: Lisa Strader, CC BY 2.0 · Thurmond: Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Phillips-Sprague Mine: Coal town guy, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bluestone National Scenic River: Dave Bieri, Public domain · Gauley River National Recreation Area: Wwkayaker22 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0
Moving to Crab Orchard: who provides what
Crab Orchard is unincorporated, so Raleigh County and regional agencies provide most services.
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 Crab Orchard.
Health in Crab Orchard trails 91% of U.S. towns
Crab Orchard: just over two in five adults sleep under 7 hours. The share of adults in Crab Orchard who report frequent physical distress is 18%, above both West Virginia’s towns (17%) and U.S. towns (14%). Among adults locally, 45% have high blood pressure and 36% feel lonely.
| Crab Orchard | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 45% | 44% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 34% | 33% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 31% | 23% |
| What stands out | Crab Orchard | WV |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 15.7% | 19.5% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 9.3% | 11% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Crab Orchard’s workers commute out
Most working residents leave Crab Orchard for work: only 3% work in town. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs here rose by 97, to 387. Among residents locally, 17% live below the poverty line. The top destinations are Beckley (29%), Charleston (3%) and Sophia (3%).
| Crab Orchard | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 2.9% | 14% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 16% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 21 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
A typical July afternoon in Crab Orchard is cooler than in most of West Virginia or the rest of the country
Expect chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers in Crab Orchard. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 23° and about 56 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Top of a low hazard risk in Crab Orchard: inland flooding
Households in Crab Orchard have drawn federal disaster aid in 7 declared disasters, most recently in 2025. Compared with two thirds of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage here is lower. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 80% come from inland flooding.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical home in Crab Orchard: about $142K
For households in Crab Orchard, the share who live in a home they own is 87%.
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Crab Orchard
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Crab Orchard
About 0 of every 100 Crab Orchard residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across West Virginia.
97% of working residents leave Crab Orchard for work
Where Crab Orchard’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Crab Orchard
Census-designated place in West Virginia, United States
Crab Orchard is a census-designated place (CDP) in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,416 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 2.3 sq mi
- Elevation
- 2,290 ft
- ZIP code
- 25827
Questions about Crab Orchard
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Crab Orchard, WV expensive?
Not for the area. That is 2.7 years of the area's median household income ($52,620 across the Beckley, WV metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.