ZIP code profile · 2024 county data

ZIP Code 26542

Preston County, West Virginia: Census demographics for this ZIP plus the containing county's FBI UCR crime rate.

Data updated 2026-08-24

117
Property rate /100K (county)
2,039
Population (ZIP)
21
Violent rate /100K (county)

Is ZIP code 26542 safe? Honest data snapshot

ZIP code 26542 sits within Preston County, WV. The figures below are the county's own FBI UCR numbers for 2024, the most accurate available statistic for this location, not a ZIP-specific calculation.

Preston County reported a violent-crime rate of 21 per 100,000 residents and a property-crime rate of 117 per 100,000 in 2024, drawing on county-level agency submissions.

Based on just 7 reported violent incidents across a county population of 34,216, this count is too low to support a reliable per-100K rate comparison. It may reflect a genuinely low-crime county, or it may reflect incomplete agency-level reporting to the FBI UCR Program for this county and year, small county-level counts are common in FBI Table 10 and should be treated as a data point, not a precise safety ranking.

ZIP 26542 carries a Census-reported population of 2,039, ranking #6 of 14 ZIPs in Preston County, spread across 35.83 square miles (about 57 people per square mile). For a full breakdown of Preston County's crime categories and year-over-year trend, see the Preston County crime page linked below.

ZIP 26542 has no FBI-native crime rate (postal codes are not police jurisdictions). The property-led county proxy above is from Preston County agency submissions; see methodology for the ZCTA plurality map. Methodology.

ZIP 26542 Census context

These are ZIP/ZCTA demographic estimates, separate from the county-level FBI proxy above. They describe the local settlement, not a crime rate.

Median household income
$54,924
Median age
45.3 years
Owner-occupied homes
80%
Occupied homes
842

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 5-year ZCTA estimates (income, age, and occupied housing tenure).

Preston County UCR book ZIP 26542 inherits

ZIP 26542 itself is about 57 people per Census sq mi across 35.8 sq mi (2,039 residents), a postal settlement fact independent of the county UCR proxy.

ZIP 26542 accounts for roughly 6% of the county reporting population (2,039 of 34,216).

Preston County's 2024 UCR book concentrates in larceny-theft (70% of 47 offenses; mix index 5,211). ZIP 26542 inherits that county mix, not a postal-native split.

Preston County 2024 vs 2022: property counts -49% vs 2022. Year-over-year moves are county agency submissions, still not ZIP-native.

Preston County offense mix (2024)

Mix index is HHI × 10,000 on county offense-type shares. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero; still county-agency data, not a ZIP-native FBI table.

Nationwide peers for ZIP 26542

Similar county violent rate (~21/100K)

Similar Census population (~2,039)

County detail: Preston County · State atlas: West Virginia

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ZIP population, land area, 2020 ZCTA-to-county relationship file, ACS 5-year estimates) and FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States (CIUS) Table 10 (county-level crime, attributed via ZIP-to-county crosswalk).

Verify with Census.gov Geography and FBI.gov UCR.

Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page combines Census ZIP-level figures with a ZIP-to-county crosswalk to attribute FBI UCR crime data honestly, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.