{"id":8732,"date":"2023-10-05T12:03:49","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T12:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=8732"},"modified":"2026-08-07T10:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:25:07","slug":"mercer-county-west-virginia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/mercer-county-west-virginia\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercer County, West Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mercer County is a county in West Virginia, United States, about 65 miles south of Beckley on<br \/>\nthe Virginia border. It had a population of 59,664 at the 2020 census, an estimated 58,563 by<br \/>\n2024, and covers 419 square miles (1,085 km2) centred near 37&deg;25&prime;N 81&deg;07&prime;W.<\/p>\n<p>Princeton is the county seat; its postal code is 24740. The county holds 2 cities, 3 incorporated<br \/>\ntowns and 5 census-designated places among dozens of smaller communities, organized into 3<br \/>\nmagisterial districts, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 54055.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Mercer County<\/h2>\n<p>Mercer County has 10 named places with a Census Bureau population figure on record: 2<br \/>\nincorporated cities, 3 incorporated towns and 5 census-designated places (CDPs). Dozens more<br \/>\nunincorporated crossroads and coal-camp communities, such as Athens Road, Camp Creek, Ceres,<br \/>\nKegley and Spanishburg, have no separate census count of their own.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Bluefield<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>9,658<\/td>\n<td>24701<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Princeton<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>5,872<\/td>\n<td>24740<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Bluewell<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>2,162<\/td>\n<td>24701<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Brush Fork<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>1,065<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Athens<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>962<\/td>\n<td>24712<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Lashmeet<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>409<\/td>\n<td>24733<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Montcalm<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>575<\/td>\n<td>24737<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Bramwell<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>276<\/td>\n<td>24715<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Matoaka<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>173<\/td>\n<td>24736<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Oakvale<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>137<\/td>\n<td>24739<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bluefield straddles the West Virginia&#8211;Virginia line, though only in name: the city on the<br \/>\nMercer County side is legally distinct from Bluefield, Virginia, a separate city across the state<br \/>\nline that adopted the same name in 1924. The 9,658 residents counted above are the West Virginia<br \/>\ncity only. Matoaka dissolved its town charter in May 2018 and is now administered as an<br \/>\nunincorporated CDP, though the 2020 count above still reflects its settled population.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>24701 &mdash; Bluefield (also serves Bluewell)<\/li>\n<li>24740 &mdash; Princeton (the county&#8217;s most populous ZIP)<\/li>\n<li>24739 &mdash; Oakvale<\/li>\n<li>24712 &mdash; Athens<\/li>\n<li>24715 &mdash; Bramwell<\/li>\n<li>24733 &mdash; Lashmeet<\/li>\n<li>24736 &mdash; Matoaka<\/li>\n<li>24737 &mdash; Montcalm<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Brush Fork has no ZIP code of its own; mail there is delivered under Bluefield&#8217;s 24701<br \/>\ncode, since Brush Fork sits only about two miles from the city and has never had its own post<br \/>\noffice. The scattered coal-camp communities without a Census Bureau population figure, such as<br \/>\nCamp Creek, Ceres and Spanishburg, likewise use the ZIP of whichever incorporated place or CDP<br \/>\ntheir mail route runs through.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Mercer County sits in West Virginia&#8217;s southern coalfield region, a country of steep,<br \/>\nclose-set Appalachian ridges cut by narrow valleys. Of its 419 square miles, about 417 are land<br \/>\nand 1.7 square miles are water &mdash; the county has no large natural lake. The East River<br \/>\nMountain range forms much of the border with Virginia, and the Bluestone River, part of the<br \/>\nfederally designated Bluestone National Scenic River, drains the county&#8217;s eastern half toward<br \/>\nBluestone Lake in neighboring Summers County.<\/p>\n<p>Raleigh County lies to the north, Summers County to the northeast, Giles County and Bland<br \/>\nCounty in Virginia to the east and south, Tazewell County, Virginia, to the southwest, McDowell<br \/>\nCounty to the west and Wyoming County to the northwest. <a<br \/>\nhref=&#8221;https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/raleigh-county\/&#8221;>Raleigh County<\/a>, <a<br \/>\nhref=&#8221;https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/summers-county\/&#8221;>Summers County<\/a>, <a<br \/>\nhref=&#8221;https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/giles-county-virginia\/&#8221;>Giles County<\/a>, <a<br \/>\nhref=&#8221;https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/bland-county\/&#8221;>Bland County<\/a>, <a<br \/>\nhref=&#8221;https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/tazewell-county-virginia\/&#8221;>Tazewell County<\/a>, <a<br \/>\nhref=&#8221;https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/mcdowell-county-west-virginia\/&#8221;>McDowell County<\/a> and <a<br \/>\nhref=&#8221;https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wyoming-county-west-virginia\/&#8221;>Wyoming County<\/a> all border<br \/>\nMercer directly.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Mercer County had a population of 59,664 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the<br \/>\ncounty near 58,563 residents in 2024, a continuing decline tied to the region&#8217;s shrinking coal<br \/>\neconomy. Bluefield and Princeton are the two largest communities, together holding roughly a<br \/>\nquarter of the county&#8217;s population. Median household income runs about $53,210, close to but<br \/>\nstill below West Virginia&#8217;s statewide figure of $55,948. Population density works out to<br \/>\nroughly 143 people per square mile of land, concentrated along the Bluefield&#8211;Princeton<br \/>\ncorridor and thinning out fast toward the county&#8217;s ridge-and-hollow edges.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 4,360 people,<br \/>\nfollowed by retail trade at 3,386 and educational services at 2,626. Princeton Community<br \/>\nHospital and Bluefield&#8217;s Princeton Community Hospital-affiliated clinics anchor much of that<br \/>\nhealth care employment. Bluefield State University, a public historically Black university with<br \/>\nabout 1,300 students, and Concord University in Athens are the county&#8217;s two four-year<br \/>\ninstitutions and among its larger employers. The coal industry that built Bluefield and Bramwell<br \/>\nhas declined sharply since the mid-20th century, and tourism tied to the Hatfield-McCoy Trails<br \/>\nATV network, which runs through Bluewell and Brush Fork, has grown as a replacement. Bluefield&#8217;s<br \/>\nbiggest annual tradition is free lemonade handed out by the Chamber of Commerce whenever the<br \/>\ntemperature tops 90&deg;F, a custom running since 1938 that gave the city its nickname,<br \/>\n&#8220;Nature&#8217;s Air Conditioned City.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>Virginia&#8217;s General Assembly formed Mercer County on 17 March 1837 from parts of Giles and<br \/>\nTazewell counties, before West Virginia split off as its own state in 1863. The county was named<br \/>\nfor General Hugh Mercer, a Revolutionary War officer killed at the Battle of Princeton, New<br \/>\nJersey, in 1777 &mdash; the same battle that later gave the county seat its own name.<\/p>\n<p>Bluefield grew explosively after the Norfolk and Western Railway chose it as a repair center<br \/>\nand division point in 1889; passenger traffic rose 317 percent in a single year, 1887 to 1888.<br \/>\nBramwell, a few miles south, became notorious around 1900 for having more millionaires per<br \/>\ncapita than any other town in the country, its wealth built entirely on coal royalties; a downtown<br \/>\nfire destroyed 21 buildings there on 7 January 1910. In 1924 a flash flood on Crane Creek killed<br \/>\neight people in Montcalm and neighboring McComas, an event still remembered locally as the<br \/>\nCatastrophe of Crane Creek. Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. was born in<br \/>\nBluefield in 1928.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>Interstate 77 crosses the county&#8217;s eastern half through Princeton. US Routes 19, 52 and 460<br \/>\nrun through the county, along with West Virginia Routes 10, 20, 44, 71 and 112.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Beckley &mdash; about 65 miles north<\/li>\n<li>Roanoke, Virginia &mdash; about 90 miles east<\/li>\n<li>Charleston &mdash; about 100 miles northwest<\/li>\n<li>Wytheville, Virginia &mdash; about 45 miles southeast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mercer County Airport, between Bluefield and Princeton, offers general aviation and limited<br \/>\ncommercial service. The nearest major commercial airport is Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport,<br \/>\nroughly 90 miles east. Amtrak service to Bluefield ended in 1979, and the county has no active<br \/>\npassenger rail station; the nearest Amtrak stop is in Prince, West Virginia, about 55 miles<br \/>\nnorth on the Cardinal line.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Mercer County located?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt sits in southern West Virginia&#8217;s coalfield region, on the Virginia border, bordered by<br \/>\nRaleigh, Summers, Giles, Bland, Tazewell, McDowell and Wyoming counties.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Mercer County?<\/strong><br \/>\n59,664 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 58,563.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Mercer County?<\/strong><br \/>\n419 square miles (1,085 km2), of which about 417 square miles are land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Mercer County?<\/strong><br \/>\nPrinceton, incorporated in 1909, is the county seat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns and cities are in Mercer County?<\/strong><br \/>\nFive incorporated places &mdash; Bluefield, Princeton, Athens, Bramwell and Oakvale &mdash; plus<br \/>\nfive census-designated places: Bluewell, Brush Fork, Lashmeet, Matoaka and Montcalm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes does Mercer County use?<\/strong><br \/>\n24701 for Bluefield and Bluewell, 24739 and 24740 for Princeton and Oakvale, 24712 for Athens,<br \/>\n24715 for Bramwell, 24733 for Lashmeet, 24736 for Matoaka and 24737 for Montcalm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Mercer County known for?<\/strong><br \/>\nBluefield&#8217;s free-lemonade tradition on 90-degree days, Bramwell&#8217;s coal-era millionaire<br \/>\nmansions, and Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash Jr., born in Bluefield in 1928.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/west-virginia\/\">Towns and villages in West Virginia<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mercer County is a county in West Virginia, United States, about 65 miles south of Beckley on the Virginia border. It had a population of 59,664 at the 2020 census, an estimated 58,563 by 2024, and covers 419 square miles (1,085 km2) centred near 37&deg;25&prime;N 81&deg;07&prime;W. Princeton is the county seat; its postal code is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Mercer County, West Virginia","_seopress_titles_desc":"All 10 towns and villages in Mercer County, West Virginia - type, population and ZIP for each, plus Bluefield and Bramwell coal-era history.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-8732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-west-virginia","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8732"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9293,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8732\/revisions\/9293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}