# Wayne County, West Virginia: Power, Data Centers and the Local Economy Home to Huntington, Kenova and Wayne Wayne County is a power-producing county: the plants here serve load well beyond its borders. Wayne County is home to part of Huntington (3,501 of its 44,815 residents), Kenova, Wayne and Ceredo. Construction employs 432, up 37.6% since 2019. Next door, Lawrence County, Ohio, has 1 data center. Unemployment was 4.4% in August 2026, against 5.6% in 2019. Its power plants have 872 MW of capacity, 100% of it natural gas, the 8th largest fleet in West Virginia. 872 MW of operating power plants, mostly natural gas +2.6% total jobs since 2019, now 8,412 16.77¢ per kWh for Appalachian Power Co residential customers, 2024 ## Cities and towns in Wayne County Wayne County is home to part of Huntington (3,501 of its 44,815 residents), Kenova, Wayne and Ceredo. Huntington3,501 residents · 8% of the city Kenova2,841 residents Wayne1,383 residents Ceredo1,318 residents Fort Gay654 residents - Huntington also extends into [Cabell County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/west-virginia/cabell-county). Unincorporated communities (governed by the county): Crum, Lavalette, Prichard. Residents are 2025 Census estimates for the part of each city, town or township inside this county. Census publishes no annual estimate for unincorporated communities. ## What changed in Wayne County | Measure | Then | Now | Change | Rank in West Virginia | |---|---|---|---|---| | Population (2020 → 2025) | 38,873 | 37,309 | ▼ 4.0% | 14th of 55 by size | | Total jobs (2019 → 2025) | 8,198 | 8,412 | ▲ 2.6% | 24th of 55 by growth | | Average annual pay (2019 → 2025) | $45,458 | $61,428 | ▲ 35.1% | — | | Construction jobs (2019 → 2025) | 314 | 432 | ▲ 37.6% | 5th of 26 by growth | | Unemployment rate (2019 → August 2026) | 5.6% | 4.4% | ▼ 1.2pts | — | | Generating capacity added since 2019 | — | 0 MW | | — | | Generating capacity retired since 2019 | — | 0 MW | | — | Employers here counted 8,412 jobs in 2025, up 2.6% from 2019. Appalachian Power Co is the largest utility serving Wayne County. Its residential customers paid an average 16.77¢/kWh in 2024, above the 15.35¢ median for West Virginia utilities. 37,309 people live here, down 4.0% since 2020. ## Who powers Wayne County ### Utilities with service territory in Wayne County | Utility | Ownership | Service | Residential customers (systemwide) | Residential price, 2024 | Commercial share of sales | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Appalachian Power Co | Investor Owned | Bundled | 348,946 | 16.77¢ | 27% | Customer counts, prices and sales shares cover each utility's whole system in the state, not only this county. Commercial sales include data centers. ### Operating power plants | Technology | Capacity | Share | |---|---|---| | Natural gas | 872 MW | 100% | | Largest plants | Owner | Technology | MW | Since | |---|---|---|---|---| | Ceredo Generating Station | Appalachian Power Co | Natural gas | 519 MW | 2001 | | Big Sandy Peaker Plant | Middle River Power II, LLC | Natural gas | 353 MW | 2001 | ## The Wayne County labor market | Industry (2025) | Jobs | Average pay | Concentration vs U.S. | |---|---|---|---| | All industries | 8,412 | $61,428 | 1.00 | | Construction | 432 | $68,869 | 0.97 | Concentration is the BLS location quotient: 1.0 means the industry holds the same share of local jobs as it does nationally. Industry rows count private employers; cells BLS suppresses are left out. ## Data centers and local rules in Wayne County No data center, local measure or delayed project is on record in Wayne County. West Virginia has 0 local measures on record statewide, and 1 neighboring county has one: [Boyd County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/kentucky/boyd-county). ## Wayne County and its neighbors Of the 7 counties that border Wayne County, Lawrence County carries the most build-out activity: data centers, planned generation and operating plants combined. [[[[[[[ | County | Population | Jobs since 2019 | Operating MW | Planned MW | Data centers | Local measures | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Wayne County | 37,309 | ▲ 2.6% | 872 MW | — | — | — | | Boyd County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/kentucky/boyd-county) KY | 47,751 | ▲ 9.3% | — | — | — | 2 | | Cabell County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/west-virginia/cabell-county) | 91,183 | ▼ 0.8% | — | — | — | — | | Lawrence County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/kentucky/lawrence-county) KY | 15,765 | ▲ 8.4% | 1,430 MW | — | — | — | | Lawrence County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/ohio/lawrence-county) OH | 55,710 | ▲ 6.1% | 1,430 MW | — | 1 | — | | Lincoln County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/west-virginia/lincoln-county) | 19,177 | ▲ 14.2% | — | — | — | — | | Martin County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/kentucky/martin-county) KY | 10,697 | ▼ 22.2% | 111 MW | — | — | — | | Mingo County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/west-virginia/mingo-county) | 21,455 | ▼ 12.4% | — | — | — | — | ## More of West Virginia [All West Virginia countiesThe state power page and county mapOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/west-virginia)[Cabell County91,183 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/west-virginia/cabell-county)[Mingo County21,455 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/west-virginia/mingo-county)[Lincoln County19,177 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/west-virginia/lincoln-county) ## Wayne County, answered from the record ### Who provides electricity in Wayne County, West Virginia? 1 utility has service territory in Wayne County in the EIA-861 2024 report: Appalachian Power Co. The largest, Appalachian Power Co, charged residential customers 16.77¢/kWh on average in 2024. ### What power plants are in Wayne County? 2 operating plants with 872 MW of capacity. The largest is Ceredo Generating Station (519 MW, natural gas). ### Are there data centers in Wayne County? The SAVRN Data Center Map has no data center in Wayne County. The nearest activity on record is next door in Lawrence County. ### Is Wayne County adding jobs? Employers counted 8,412 jobs in 2025 against 8,198 in 2019 (+2.6%, BLS QCEW). Construction went from 314 to 432. ### Does Wayne County have a data center moratorium? No county-level measure is on record for Wayne County. West Virginia has 0 local measures statewide, listed on the state page. --- Canonical: https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/west-virginia/wayne-county Updated: 2026-10-08. Refreshed weekly by SAVRN from EIA, BLS, BEA, Census and the SAVRN trackers. License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).