Shady Spring is an area of development for new housing communities. It is close to Glade Springs Resort, Flat Top Lake, Winterplace Ski Resort, and the city of Beckley.
Due to its growing size, the county school board upgraded its middle and high schools to deal with the increased student volume.
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,078 people, 869 households, and 636 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 327.6 people per square mile (126.5/km²). There were 942 housing units at an average density of 148.5/sq mi (57.4/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 99.52% White, 0.05% Asian, 0.10% from other races, and 0.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.58% of the population.
There were 869 households out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.8% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families. 24.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.82.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 21.0% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.1 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $90,464, and the median income for a family was $136,810. Males had a median income of $93,821 versus $88,363 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $80,872. About 1.4% of families and 2.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.9% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.