Huntington WV rent increase 2026 Huntington — Cabell County seat; West Virginia’s second-largest city (~44,000 city; ~340,000 tri-state metro) — has no rent control of any kind in 2026. No West Virginia municipality has ever enacted residential rent regulation. WV RLTA (WV Code §§37-6-1) + WV Security Deposit Law (§§37-6A-1): 2-month deposit cap (§37-6A-2); 60-day return (tied longest in US with Arkansas); actual damages only for wrongful withholding; 5-day pay-or-quit (§55-3A-3; no cure right); “Wrongful Occupation” in Cabell County Magistrate Court (~$55). Marshall University: ~12,000–14,000 students; 1970 Flight 932 crash. Cabell Huntington Hospital: Level I Trauma, ~3,500–4,000 employees.

West Virginia rent control: why no Huntington ordinance caps rents

West Virginia has never enacted a statewide rent control preemption statute because no WV municipality has ever attempted to enact rent control. Unlike Texas (LGC §214.902, 1981), Wisconsin (Wis. Stat. §66.1015, 1981), Michigan (MCL §123.409, 1988), Illinois (765 ILCS 720, 1997), and North Dakota (NDCC §47-16-07.3, 1981) — which enacted explicit statutory prohibitions after facing local rent control pressures — West Virginia has never faced that scenario. Huntington City Council has never considered rent stabilization ordinances, and the WV Legislature has never debated a statewide rent regulation framework.

Huntington’s political economy has not generated the tenant-organizing coalitions that produced rent control in coastal metro areas. The city’s affordable housing market (median 2BR rent ~$700–$850 in 2026 — among the lowest for a university city with two teaching hospitals in the eastern United States) has reduced the affordability pressure that drives rent control advocacy. The principal housing challenge in Huntington is not high rents but rather vacancy in portions of the housing stock and the opioid epidemic’s historic impact on neighborhood stability — neither of which is addressed by rent control.

WV Security Deposit Law and RLTA: framework for Huntington landlords

West Virginia’s residential landlord-tenant law consists of two statutes: the WV Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (WV Code §§37-6-1 et seq., enacted 1978) and the WV Security Deposit Law (WV Code §§37-6A-1 et seq., enacted 1983). West Virginia did not adopt the URLTA (Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, 1972), resulting in a framework that differs meaningfully from URLTA-adopting neighbors like Virginia (VRLTA, §55.1-1200 et seq.) and Kentucky (KRS §§383.500 et seq.).

Key legal features for Huntington landlords:

2-month deposit cap (§37-6A-2): Maximum deposit is two months’ rent. A Huntington landlord at $750/month (Marshall District 2BR) may collect no more than $1,500. Compare: Kentucky no cap; Ohio no cap; Virginia 2 months.

60-day deposit return (§37-6A-4): Return the deposit with a written itemized statement within 60 days of lease termination. Tied with Arkansas as the longest mandatory return in the US. Kentucky requires 30 days; Ohio 30 days; Virginia 45 days. The 60-day window favors Huntington landlords by providing extra time to document contractor repairs.

Actual damages only (§37-6A-4): No multiplier for wrongful deposit withholding. Compare Kentucky (2× + attorney fees) — a critical distinction for tri-state landlords who manage properties on both sides of the WV/KY border. The Kentucky 2× multiplier means a $1,600 deposit wrongfully withheld in Ashland, KY costs $3,200; the same deposit in Huntington, WV costs only the actual $1,600 + attorney fees.

5-day pay-or-quit (§55-3A-3; no cure right): Written notice demanding payment or vacation within 5 days. No statutory cure right (compare: Virginia RLTA §55.1-1245 provides an explicit cure right; WV does not). After 5 days, file Wrongful Occupation complaint in Cabell County Magistrate Court (~$55 filing fee).

Marshall University: academic anchor and rental demand engine

Marshall University (One John Marshall Drive, Huntington, WV 25755) was founded in 1837 and named for U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall. Today Marshall is a comprehensive public university offering more than 240 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs across colleges including the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, the Lewis College of Business, and the College of Science. Marshall is a Division I athletic member of the Sun Belt Conference (football) and Conference USA (most other sports), competing as the Thundering Herd.

Marshall’s ~12,000–14,000 enrolled students generate the dominant seasonal rental demand cycle in Huntington. The August semester start creates near-zero vacancy in the Marshall District (4th/5th Avenue, Hal Greer Boulevard, 3rd Avenue) and significant competitive pressure on nearby housing. January semester start produces a secondary leasing cycle. Huntington landlords in the Marshall corridor should structure lease terms around the university’s academic calendar: 12-month leases beginning in August with August 1 renewal dates are the market standard for this segment.

Marshall’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine creates an additional demand segment from medical students (four-year MD program), residents rotating through Cabell Huntington Hospital, and fellows completing sub-specialty training at Marshall Health Network facilities. Medical students and residents typically seek 12-month furnished or semi-furnished rentals in the $700–$1,100 range within walking or cycling distance of the medical school and hospital campuses.

The 1970 Marshall plane crash: civic identity and university resilience

On November 14, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932 — a Douglas DC-9-31 carrying Marshall University’s football team, coaches, athletic supporters, and boosters returning from a game at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina — struck the tree-covered hillside of Tri-State Airport’s approach corridor and crashed approximately one mile from the runway. All 75 people aboard died: 37 Marshall football players, 8 coaches, 25 boosters and community supporters (including Huntington civic leaders, physicians, and businesspeople), and 5 Southern Airways crew members.

The crash devastated Huntington’s civic and athletic community. Marshall’s football program had to rebuild from almost nothing: no returning players who had traveled with the team survived. The NCAA granted an emergency eligibility waiver allowing Marshall to field freshmen in the immediate 1971 season, and coach Jack Lengyel was hired to lead what became known as the “Young Thundering Herd.” The 2006 Warner Bros. film “We Are Marshall” (directed by McG; starring Matthew McConaughey as Coach Lengyel and Matthew Fox as offensive coordinator Red Dawson) dramatized the 1971 rebuilding season and has kept national awareness of the 1970 crash alive in the decades since. The film generated significant tourism to Huntington and Marshall University in the years following its release.

For Huntington landlords, the Marshall crash legacy contributes to the university’s unusually strong emotional bond between alumni, students, and the city — a bond that sustains enrollment and community investment even against competing recruiting pressures from WVU and out-of-state universities. Marshall’s enrollment stability provides a predictable demand base for the Marshall District rental submarket.

Cabell Huntington Hospital and St. Mary’s: dual-hospital healthcare employment

Huntington is unusual among Appalachian cities its size in having two independent Level I/II Trauma-designated hospitals within its city limits — generating a combined healthcare employment base of approximately 6,500–7,000 jobs that provides the most recession-resistant rental demand in Cabell County.

Cabell Huntington Hospital (1340 Hal Greer Boulevard; Level I Trauma; ~3,500–4,000 employees; affiliated with WVU Medicine and Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine) is the region’s highest-acuity trauma and tertiary care facility, drawing patients from across southern WV, eastern KY, and southern OH. Cabell Huntington operates a nationally recognized opioid recovery program and has built out significant behavioral health and addiction medicine infrastructure in response to the regional epidemic.

St. Mary’s Medical Center (2900 First Avenue; Level II Trauma; operated by Pallottine Health, a Catholic health ministry; ~3,000 employees) provides general acute care, surgical services, cardiac care, and obstetric services to western Huntington and the broader Wayne County corridor. St. Mary’s campus on First Avenue generates rental demand in the western Huntington and Spring Valley neighborhoods.

Healthcare workers at both hospitals typically seek rentals near their work campus. The Hal Greer Boulevard corridor between Marshall campus and Cabell Huntington sees premium pricing for healthcare workers who value proximity to both the university and hospital; the First Avenue / 29th Street area around St. Mary’s draws a separate demand cluster at slightly lower price points.

Huntington WV 2026 rent table by neighborhood

Neighborhood / Corridor	2BR 2026F (est.)	Key demand driver
Downtown / 4th–5th Avenue	$600–$1,000	Marshall University, walkable urban core
Marshall District / West End	$550–$900	Marshall student housing; Hal Greer Blvd corridor
Medical Center / Hal Greer Blvd	$650–$1,050	Cabell Huntington Hospital staff; medical residents
Barboursville / Route 60	$650–$1,100	Suburban Cabell County; Huntington Mall area
Milton / Culloden	$600–$950	Eastern Cabell County; Route 60 commuters
Pea Ridge	$700–$1,100	South Huntington residential; healthcare professionals
Spring Valley / Western Huntington	$600–$950	St. Mary’s Medical Center corridor; 1st Avenue
Chesapeake / Wayne County	$550–$900	Suburban Wayne County; most affordable WV metro segment

Tri-state comparison: WV vs. KY vs. OH landlord-tenant law for Huntington-area landlords

Many Huntington-area landlords own properties across the WV/KY/OH tri-state region. The three states have materially different landlord-tenant legal frameworks:

Deposit cap: WV 2 months; KY no cap (KRS §383.580(1)); OH no cap (RC §5321.16). Tri-state landlords in KY and OH may collect larger deposits but face different return obligations.

Deposit return: WV 60 days; KY 30 days (KRS §383.580(3)); OH 30 days (RC §5321.16(B)). WV’s 60-day window is twice as long as KY or OH, a meaningful distinction for portfolio management.

Wrongful withholding: WV actual damages only + attorney fees; KY 2× + attorney fees (KRS §383.580(4)); OH actual damages + attorney fees + court costs (RC §5321.16(C)). Kentucky’s 2× multiplier is the most significant practical difference: an improperly withheld KY deposit costs twice as much as a WV one.

Pay-or-quit notice: WV 5 days (no cure right); KY 7 days (no cure right; KRS §383.660); OH 3 days (no cure right; RC §1923.02(A)(9)). Ohio’s 3-day notice is the fastest in the tri-state; KY 7-day is the slowest; WV 5-day is the middle.

See our comprehensive West Virginia RLTA guide for the full statutory analysis. See also our Charleston WV rent increase 2026 page and Morgantown WV rent increase 2026 for other major WV markets.