Ritchie County

administration
Ritchie County Courthouse
US state :	West Virginia
Administrative headquarters :	Harrisville
Address of the administrative headquarters:	County Courthouse 115 East Main Street Harrisville, WV 26362-1271
Foundation :	February 18, 1843
Made up from:	Harrison County Lewis County Wood County
Area code :	001 304
Demographics
Residents :	10,449 (2010)
Population density :	8.9 inhabitants / km ²
geography
Total area :	1175 km²
Water surface :	0 km²
map

Ritchie County is a county in the state of West Virginia in the United States . The county seat is Harrisville .

geography

The county is located north of the geographic center of West Virginia, is about 30 km to the northwest from Ohio , and covers an area of 1,175 square kilometers with no significant body of water. It is bordered by counties in a clockwise direction: Pleasants County , Tyler County , Doddridge County , Gilmer County , Calhoun County , Wirt County, and Wood County .

history

Ritchie County was formed on February 18, 1843 from parts of Harrison County, Lewis County and Wood County. It was named after Thomas Ritchie , an American journalist and politician.

Demographic data

Population development
Census	Residents	± in%
1850	3902	-
1860	6847	75.5%
1870	9055	32.2%
1880	13,474	48.8%
1890	16,621	23.4%
1900	18,901	13.7%
1910	17,875	-5.4%
1920	16,506	-7.7%
1930	15,594	-5.5%
1940	15,389	-1.3%
1950	12,535	-18.5%
1960	10,877	-13.2%
1970	10.145	-6.7%
1980	11,442	12.8%
1990	10,233	-10.6%
2000	10,343	1.1%
2010	10,449	1 %
Before 1900 1900-1990

Ritchie County's Age Pyramid

As of the 2000 census , Ritchie County had 10,343 people in 4,184 households and 2,999 families. The population density was 9 people per square kilometer. The racial the population was composed of 98.68 percent white, 0.14 percent African American, 0.27 percent Native American, 0.13 percent Asian and 0.11 percent from other ethnic groups; 0.69 percent were descended from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 0.47 percent of the population.

Of the 4,184 households, 30.2 percent had children and adolescents under the age of 18 living with them. 58.2 percent were married couples living together, 9.7 percent were single mothers, 28.3 percent were non-families, 25.0 percent were single households, and 12.3 percent had people aged 65 years or over. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.91 people.

For the entire county, the population was composed of 23.0 percent of residents under the age of 18, 7.7 percent between 18 and 24 years of age, 28.0 percent between 25 and 44 years of age, and 26.1 percent between 45 and 64 years of age 15.2 percent were 65 years of age or over. The average age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 96.2 males. For every 100 women aged 18 or over there were statistically 95.1 men.

The median income for a household in the county is $ 27,332 , and the median income for a family is $ 34,809. Males had a median income of $ 28,147 versus $ 18,149 for females. The per capita income was $ 15,175. 14.3 percent of families and 19.1 percent of the population lived below the poverty line. Of these, 23.6 percent were children or adolescents under the age of 18 and 14.1 percent were people over 65 years of age.