Hinton is a city in Summers County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,880 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Summers County. Hinton, was established in 1873 and chartered in 1897. Hinton was named for John "Jack" Hinton, a prominent lawyer of Summers County and husband of Avis Gwinn Hinton, who owned the land upon which the city of Hinton is located. Hinton's complete downtown was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1984. There are several museums in Hinton, including the Veterans Memorial Museum, Wood’s Clock Museum, the Hinton Railroad Museum, and King's Civil War Museum.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.0 square miles (7.9 km²), of which, 2.3 square miles (6.0 km²) of it is land and 0.7 square miles (1.9 km²) of it (24.26%) is water.
There were 1,357 households out of which 19.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.1% were married couples living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.3% were non-families. 41.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.85.
In the city the population was spread out with 19.4% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 22.8% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 26.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 82.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $20,323, and the median income for a family was $25,769. Males had a median income of $23,654 versus $25,543 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,909. About 22.6% of families and 27.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.1% of those under age 18 and 15.2% of those age 65 or over.