Ranson is a city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 5,433 at the 2020 census. It is part of the northwestern fringes of the Washington metropolitan area. The Charles Town Mining, Manufacturing, and Improvement Company played an instrumental role in creating this new town. In 1890, the company bought 850 acres adjoining the western and northern corporate limits of Charles Town, and commissioned D.G. Howell, a civil engineer and architect, to lay out the town.