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 West Virginia
Data followed by an * indicates a Significant Difference at the 90 percent level between that data and the data from the most current year.  Data followed by a "c" indicates the estimate for that year and the current year are both controlled; a statistical test is not appropriate.
TABLE 2. SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
  2003
Estimate		 2002
Estimate		 2001
Estimate		 2000
Estimate
SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
Population 3 years and over enrolled in school
393,349
392,189
389,737
386,166
Nursery school, preschool
5.45%
4.96%
4.48%
4.30%
Kindergarten
6.09%
5.49%
5.05%
5.27%
Elementary school (grades 1-8)
42.44%
45.69% *
47.65% *
46.93% *
High school grade (grades 9-12)
23.02%
22.74%
23.14%
24.38%
College or graduate school
23.01%
21.12%
19.68% *
19.12% *
 
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Population 25 years and over
1,217,163
1,217,142
1,205,993 *
1,217,154
Less than 9th grade
8.90%
8.28%
10.14%
10.16%
9th to 12th grade, no diploma
12.78%
12.88%
14.17% *
14.75% *
High school graduate (including equivalency)
40.26%
41.32%
40.94%
39.55%
Some college, no degree
16.16%
16.42%
14.86%
16.94%
Associate degree
4.93%
5.01%
4.50%
4.27%
Bachelor's degree
10.50%
9.47%
9.36%
8.91% *
Graduate or professional degree
6.47%
6.61%
6.03%
5.43%
 
Percent high school graduate or higher
78.3
78.8
75.7 *
75.1 *
Percent bachelor's degree or higher
17.0
16.1
15.4
14.3 *
 
MARITAL STATUS
Males 15 years and over
696,152
687,730 *
687,003 *
693,966
Never married
27.08%
25.21% *
24.54% *
25.05% *
Now married, except separated
57.93%
59.87% *
61.60% *
60.83% *
Separated
1.29%
1.70%
1.36%
0.84%
Widowed
2.67%
3.38% *
2.81%
3.38% *
Divorced
11.03%
9.84% *
9.69% *
9.90%
 
Females 15 years and over
751,130
752,939
746,547
748,366
Never married
19.57%
19.64%
20.02%
18.57%
Now married, except separated
53.55%
53.68%
54.04%
55.30%
Separated
2.16%
1.83%
1.84%
2.71%
Widowed
12.28%
13.28%
13.20%
13.08%
Divorced
12.44%
11.56%
10.89% *
10.34% *
 
FERTILITY
Number of women 15 to 50 years old who had a birth in the past 12 months
20,801
19,708
23,657
22,133
Unmarried women (widowed, divorced, and never married)
43.47%
27.28% *
30.26%
29.53% *
Per 1,000 unmarried women
47
27 *
38
37
As a percent of all women with a birth
43.5
27.3 *
30.3 *
29.5 *
Per 1,000 women 15 to 50 years old
47
45
54
49
Per 1,000 women 15 to 19 years old
48
14 *
50
16 *
Per 1,000 women 20 to 34 years old
98
105
102
109
Per 1,000 women 35 to 50 years old
8
8
17 *
12
 
GRANDPARENTS
Number of grandparents with own grandchildren under 18 years in households
39,135
27,113 *
35,026
37,267
Responsible for grandchildren
60.38%
59.23%
56.50%
51.06%
 
Characteristics of grandparents responsible for own grandchildren under 18 years
Percent Responsible for grandchildren
less than 1 year
21.37%
9.03% *
22.84%
26.85%
1 or 2 years
22.55%
20.51%
28.55%
28.88%
3 or 4 years
15.24%
17.97%
12.25%
23.04%
5 or more years
40.84%
52.49%
36.36%
21.23% *
 
Percent who are female
58.5
56.1
54.9
57.5
Percent who are married
72.1
82.4 *
76.6
81.2
Percent who are in labor force
47.1
50.0
44.4
33.2 *
Percent who are in poverty
25.7
11.9 *
16.7
25.4
 
VETERAN STATUS
Civilian population 18 years and over
1,376,869
1,370,628 *
1,360,454 *
1,368,781 *
Civilian veterans
12.79%
12.86%
13.96% *
13.42%
 
RESIDENCE 1 YEAR AGO
Population 1 year and over
1,746,196
1,742,786
1,742,598
1,748,619
Same house
88.95%
88.05%
88.06%
87.06% *
Different house in the U.S.
10.85%
11.87%
11.83%
12.64% *
Same county
6.47%
7.05%
7.61% *
8.23% *
Different county
4.38%
4.82%
4.23%
4.41%
Same state
1.78%
2.05%
1.87%
1.96%
Different state
2.60%
2.76%
2.36%
2.45%
Abroad
0.20%
0.08%
0.11%
0.30%
 
PLACE OF BIRTH, CITIZENSHIP, AND YEAR OF ENTRY
Total population
1,766,196
1,758,096 c
1,758,747 c
1,765,197 c
Native
98.53%
98.84%
98.90% *
98.93% *
Born in United States
98.19%
98.40%
98.40%
98.49%
State of residence
72.46%
72.76%
73.49%
73.32%
Different state
25.73%
25.65%
24.91%
25.17%
Born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parent(s)
0.34%
0.43%
0.50%
0.44%
Foreign born
1.47%
1.16%
1.10% *
1.07% *
Naturalized citizen
50.25%
58.24%
60.83%
53.97%
Not a citizen
49.75%
41.76%
39.17%
46.03%
Entered 1990 or later
42.89%
35.35%
27.29%
34.43%
Entered before 1990
57.11%
64.65%
72.71% *
65.57%
 
REGION OF BIRTH OF FOREIGN BORN
Foreign-born population with region of birth reported
25,937
20,449
19,270 *
18,869 *
Europe
17.74%
36.67% *
34.98% *
25.45%
Asia
42.34%
39.27%
39.09%
49.98%
Africa
2.83%
0.25%
1.88%
0.29%
Oceania
1.40%
0.34%
2.35%
1.07%
Latin America
27.27%
19.67%
11.36% *
12.54% *
Northern America
8.41%
3.80%
10.35%
10.67%
 
LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME
Population 5 years and over
1,663,592
1,659,773 *
1,658,837 *
1,668,452 *
English only
97.89%
97.66%
97.60%
97.47%
Language other than English
2.11%
2.34%
2.40%
2.53%
Speak English less than "very well"
0.70%
0.47%
0.61%
0.61%
Spanish
0.83%
0.77%
1.03%
0.74%
Speak English less than "very well"
0.27%
0.17%
0.33%
0.19%
Other Indo-European languages
0.67%
0.89%
1.04% *
1.09% *
Speak English less than "very well"
0.15%
0.15%
0.21%
0.19%
Asian and Pacific Islander languages
0.47%
0.33%
0.18% *
0.43%
Speak English less than "very well"
0.26%
0.14%
0.05% *
0.20%
Other languages
0.14%
0.35%
0.15%
0.27%
Speak English less than "very well"
0.03%
0.01%
0.02%
0.03%
 
ANCESTRY (TOTAL REPORTED)
Total Population
1,766,196
1,758,096 c
1,758,747 c
1,765,197 c
Arab
0.46%
0.34%
0.29%
0.42%
Czech
0.22%
0.14%
0.16%
0.16%
Danish
0.05%
0.05%
0.08%
0.09%
Dutch
2.71%
2.77%
2.76%
2.51%
English
13.12%
13.24%
12.25%
12.10%
French (except Basque)
1.80%
1.82%
1.61%
2.01%
French Canadian
0.20%
0.14%
0.18%
0.10%
German
18.84%
19.94%
19.08%
17.22%
Greek
0.15%
0.17%
0.33% *
0.13%
Hungarian
0.39%
0.50%
0.68% *
0.72% *
Irish
13.83%
15.04%
14.02%
14.38%
Italian
4.61%
4.49%
4.31%
4.08%
Lithuanian
0.16%
0.03% *
0.04% *
0.05% *
Norwegian
0.21%
0.15%
0.10%
0.27%
Polish
1.73%
2.07%
1.58%
1.56%
Portuguese
0.13%
0.01% *
0.04% *
0.01% *
Russian
0.44%
0.21%
0.38%
0.26%
Scotch-Irish
2.69%
2.45%
2.70%
2.71%
Scottish
2.05%
2.11%
1.98%
2.45%
Slovak
0.24%
0.21%
0.21%
0.13%
Subsaharan African
0.09%
0.04%
0.09%
0.06%
Swedish
0.49%
0.37%
0.33%
0.42%
Swiss
0.20%
0.18%
0.26%
0.20%
Ukrainian
0.14%
0.06%
0.08%
0.15%
United States or American
15.86%
16.59%
21.54% *
20.60% *
Welsh
0.60%
0.75%
0.88% *
0.82%
West Indian (excluding Hispanic origin groups)
0.24%
0.11%
0.03% *
0.03% *
 
Profile Navigation
  
Viewing 2003 Multiyear Profile for West Virginia
  Demographic - Table 1
  Social - Table 2
  Economic - Table 3
  Housing - Table 4

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West Virginia
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See footnotes below.

Footnotes

The profile universe is limited to the household population and excludes the population living in institutions, college dormitories, and other group quarters. Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability.

Ancestry listed in this table refers to the total number of reports; for example, the estimate given for Russian represents the number of people who listed Russian as either their first or second ancestry. This table lists only the largest ancestry groups; see the Detailed Tables for more categories. Race and Hispanic origin groups are not included in this table because official data for those groups come from the Race and Hispanic origin questions rather than the ancestry question (see Table 1).

1. An '-' entry in an Estimate column indicates that no sample observations were available to compute an estimate.
2. An '-' following a median estimate means the median falls in the lowest interval of an open-ended distribution.
3. An '+' following a median estimate means the median falls in the upper interval of an open-ended distribution.
4. An 'N' entry in an Estimate column indicates that data for this geographic area cannot be displayed because the number of sample cases is too small.

[Excel] or the letters [xls] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format (XLS). To view the file, you will need the Microsoft® Excel® Viewer This link to a non-federal Web site does not imply endorsement of any particular product, company, or content. available for free from Microsoft®.
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau  |  American Community Survey Office  |  Page Last Modified: August 29, 2007