{"id":8736,"date":"2023-10-05T12:07:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T12:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=8736"},"modified":"2026-08-07T13:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T13:07:41","slug":"mingo-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/mingo-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Mingo County, West Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mingo County is a county in West Virginia, United States, about 45 miles southwest of<br \/>\nCharleston along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River. It had a population of 23,568 at the 2020<br \/>\ncensus, an estimated 21,455 by 2025, and covers 424 square miles (1,100 km2) centred near<br \/>\n37\u00b044\u2032N 82\u00b008\u2032W.<\/p>\n<p>Williamson is the county seat and largest city; its postal code is 25661. The county holds 1<br \/>\ncity, 4 incorporated towns and 4 census-designated places, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS<br \/>\ncode is 54059.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Mingo County<\/h2>\n<p>Mingo County has 9 named places on record: 5 incorporated cities and towns and 4<br \/>\ncensus-designated places (CDPs) with no local government of their own. West Virginia has no<br \/>\nfunctioning civil townships, so the table below skips that column. Dozens of smaller unincorporated<br \/>\ncommunities and former coal camps &mdash; Ajax, Sprigg, Vulcan, Thacker and others &mdash; have no<br \/>\nCensus Bureau population count of their own and are not listed as separate rows.<\/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>Williamson<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>3,083<\/td>\n<td>25661<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Gilbert Creek<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>1,136<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Chattaroy<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>641<\/td>\n<td>25667<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Red Jacket<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>525<\/td>\n<td>25650<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Delbarton<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>422<\/td>\n<td>25670<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Matewan<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>412<\/td>\n<td>25678<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Justice<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>313<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Kermit<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>317<\/td>\n<td>25674<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Gilbert<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>333<\/td>\n<td>25621<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gilbert and Gilbert Creek are two different places despite the shared name &mdash; Gilbert is the<br \/>\nincorporated town on WV Route 80, while Gilbert Creek CDP is a separate, more populous<br \/>\nunincorporated cluster of coal-camp settlements strung along the creek of the same name a few<br \/>\nmiles away. Do not confuse the two when mailing anything to either.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>25661 &mdash; Williamson (also covers Gilbert Creek and East Williamson)<\/li>\n<li>25667 &mdash; Chattaroy<\/li>\n<li>25650 &mdash; Red Jacket<\/li>\n<li>25670 &mdash; Delbarton<\/li>\n<li>25678 &mdash; Matewan<\/li>\n<li>25674 &mdash; Kermit<\/li>\n<li>25621 &mdash; Gilbert<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Justice CDP has no ZIP code of its own; mail there is delivered under the Williamson or Delbarton<br \/>\ncodes depending on the address.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Mingo County sits in the Appalachian Plateau of southern West Virginia, a landscape of steep,<br \/>\nnarrow ridges and hollows cut by the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, which forms the county&#8217;s<br \/>\nentire southwestern border with Kentucky. Of its 424 square miles, 423 are land and 0.9 are water,<br \/>\nabout 0.2 percent &mdash; there is no natural lake of any size, and the Tug Fork and its<br \/>\ntributaries, including Pigeonroost Fork and Marrowbone Creek, drain nearly the whole county.<\/p>\n<p>Lincoln County lies to the north, Logan County to the northeast, Wyoming County to the east,<br \/>\nMcDowell County and Buchanan County, Virginia, to the southeast, Pike County and Martin County,<br \/>\nKentucky, to the west across the Tug Fork, and Wayne County to the northwest. <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/lincoln-county-west-virginia\/\">Lincoln County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/logan-county-west-virginia\/\">Logan County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wyoming-county-west-virginia\/\">Wyoming County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/mcdowell-county-west-virginia\/\">McDowell County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/buchanan-county-virginia\/\">Buchanan County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/pike-county-kentucky\/\">Pike County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/martin-county-kentucky\/\">Martin County<\/a> and <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wayne-county-west-virginia\/\">Wayne County<\/a> all border Mingo<br \/>\ndirectly.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Mingo County had a population of 23,568 at the 2020 census, and the latest Census Bureau<br \/>\nestimate puts the county near 21,455 residents, a decline of about 9 percent driven mainly by the<br \/>\ncontinued contraction of coal-sector jobs. Williamson and Gilbert Creek are the two largest<br \/>\ncommunities, together holding roughly a fifth of the county&#8217;s population. Median household<br \/>\nincome runs about $38,119, well below West Virginia&#8217;s statewide figure of $55,948 (2023 ACS).<br \/>\nPopulation density works out to roughly 56 people per square mile of land, well below the<br \/>\nstatewide average and among the lower densities in southern West Virginia&#8217;s coalfield<br \/>\ncounties.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 986 people,<br \/>\nfollowed by mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction at 854 and accommodation and food<br \/>\nservices at 707. Mining remains the highest-paying sector by far, with average earnings near<br \/>\n$78,571, even as total mining employment has fallen sharply over the past two decades. Williamson<br \/>\nis home to Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College and to a large Norfolk Southern<br \/>\nrail yard that once served the county&#8217;s coal tipples and still moves freight through the Tug<br \/>\nValley. Mingo County High School, in Williamson, is the county&#8217;s only public high school after<br \/>\na series of school consolidations. Matewan holds its Matewan Massacre Reenactment each May, staging<br \/>\nthe 1920 gunfight for visitors on the same downtown street where it happened.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>The West Virginia Legislature created Mingo County on 30 January 1895, carving it out of Logan<br \/>\nCounty &mdash; it is the newest of the state&#8217;s 55 counties. It was named for the historic<br \/>\nMingo people, an Iroquoian-speaking group that once lived along the upper Ohio Valley. Williamson,<br \/>\nincorporated in 1905 and named for landowner Wallace J. Williamson, grew from 688 residents in 1900<br \/>\nto 9,410 by 1930 once the railroad arrived and coal mining expanded rapidly through the valley.<\/p>\n<p>In May 1920, coal miners attempting to unionize clashed with Baldwin-Felts detectives hired by<br \/>\nmine operators to evict striking families in Matewan &mdash; the Battle of Matewan, part of the<br \/>\nbroader West Virginia Coal Wars and the inspiration for the 1987 film Matewan. Ten men, including<br \/>\nMatewan&#8217;s pro-union police chief Sid Hatfield, died in the shootout. A floodwall completed in<br \/>\n1991 now protects Williamson from the Tug Fork, which has flooded the town repeatedly, most<br \/>\nseverely in 1977.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>US 52 and US 119 run through the county along the Tug Fork valley; WV Routes 49, 65 and 80<br \/>\nbranch off into the side hollows. No interstate highway crosses Mingo County.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Charleston, WV &mdash; about 75 miles northeast<\/li>\n<li>Huntington, WV &mdash; about 60 miles north<\/li>\n<li>Pikeville, KY &mdash; about 25 miles southwest<\/li>\n<li>Logan, WV &mdash; about 25 miles northeast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yeager Airport in Charleston, roughly 75 miles northeast of Williamson, is the nearest major<br \/>\ncommercial airport. Tri-State Airport near Huntington is a closer regional alternative for some<br \/>\ncounty residents. Amtrak does not serve Mingo County; the nearest station is in Huntington on the<br \/>\nCardinal line.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Mingo County located?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt sits in southern West Virginia&#8217;s Appalachian Plateau, about 45 miles southwest of<br \/>\nCharleston, bordered by Kentucky and Virginia along its western and southeastern edges.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Mingo County?<\/strong><br \/>\n23,568 at the 2020 census, with a recent estimate near 21,455.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Mingo County?<\/strong><br \/>\n424 square miles (1,100 km2), of which 423 square miles are land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Mingo County?<\/strong><br \/>\nWilliamson is the county seat and largest city, incorporated in 1905.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns are in Mingo County?<\/strong><br \/>\nFive incorporated places &mdash; Williamson, Delbarton, Gilbert, Kermit and Matewan &mdash; plus<br \/>\nfour census-designated places: Gilbert Creek, Chattaroy, Red Jacket and Justice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes does Mingo County use?<\/strong><br \/>\n25661 for Williamson, 25670 for Delbarton, 25621 for Gilbert, 25674 for Kermit, 25678 for<br \/>\nMatewan, 25667 for Chattaroy and 25650 for Red Jacket.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Mingo County known for?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe 1920 Battle of Matewan, one of the defining clashes of the West Virginia Coal Wars, and its<br \/>\nlong history as a coal-mining and rail-freight county along the Tug Fork.<\/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>Mingo County is a county in West Virginia, United States, about 45 miles southwest of Charleston along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River. It had a population of 23,568 at the 2020 census, an estimated 21,455 by 2025, and covers 424 square miles (1,100 km2) centred near 37\u00b044\u2032N 82\u00b008\u2032W. Williamson is the county [&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 Mingo County, West Virginia","_seopress_titles_desc":"All 9 towns and CDPs in Mingo County, West Virginia - type, population and ZIP for each, plus the 1920 Battle of Matewan 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-8736","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\/8736","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=8736"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9314,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8736\/revisions\/9314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}