List of census-designated places in West Virginia
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The United States Census Bureau separates places by incorporation for statistical purposes during its decennial census. To incorporate, communities may need to meet statutory requirements made by their respective state, such as thresholds in population or specificities relative to location.[a] Federally, the Census Bureau defines incorporated places as areas, whose boundaries do not cross state lines, that "provide governmental functions for a concentration of people", as opposed to "minor civil [divisions], which generally ... provide services or administer an area without regard, necessarily, to population".[5] Unincorporated communities, classified as census-designated places (CDPs), lack elected municipal officers and boundaries with legal status.[5] The Bureau identified 205 CDPs in the state of West Virginia at the 2020 census.
The Municipal Code of West Virginia, which governs incorporation, requires applicant municipal corporations (places for incorporation) that cover an area more than 1 square mile (2.6 km2) to have a minimum of 500 inhabitants or freeholders per square mile, and those under 1 square mile to have at least 100 inhabitants or freeholders. Applicant areas must not reside within a municipality "urban in character", nor claim an area "disproportionate to its number of inhabitants".[6] Upon approval, the state classifies municipal corporations as a Class I city, with a population of more than fifty thousand, a Class II city, with a population between ten thousand and fifty thousand, a Class III city, with a population between two thousand and ten thousand, or a Class IV town or village, with a population of less than two thousand.[7] All municipalities can "use a common seal", defend, maintain, or institute a proceeding in court, and hold, take, purchase, or lease, as lessee, property for municipal purposes.[8]
Of the fifty-five counties in West Virginia, Logan is home to the most CDPs, with twenty-five, followed by Fayette, with twenty, and Raleigh, with eighteen. The largest CDP by population is Teays Valley, with 14,350 residents, while Bowden, with 0 residents over 0.12 square miles (0.31 km2), represents the state's smallest CDP by both population and area.[9]
Census-designated places
The houses of Boomer, as seen from across the Kanawha River in May 1975
A child returning to school with an ice cream cone in Chattaroy. Photographed as a part of the DOCUMERICA series, which aimed to "photographically document subjects of environmental concern", the image's title states that Chattaroy "[had] no industry" and that "most of the people [survived] on welfare, pensions, Social Security, and black lung benefits" in April 1974.[11][12]
Otterbein United Methodist Church in Green Spring
The Daniel Fry House in Middleway
The Red Jacket Consolidated Coal and Coke Company constructed Red Jacket (pictured) in 1905.[16]
A post office in Shenandoah Junction
The Peerless Coal Company Store in Vivian was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.[17]
See also
Explanatory notes
- Mississippi, for instance, only requires potential incorporated areas to have a population of 300, whereas Florida requires potential incorporated areas to have a population of at least 1,500 if the county in which the area resides has a population of 75,000 or less, or of at least 7,500 if the county in which the area resides has a population of more than 75,000.[3][4]
- If the CDP covers more than one county, the county that contains a majority of the CDP's population is listed first.