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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D. C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004.

or

For the transition period from                      to                     .

Commission File Number 0-11733

CITY HOLDING COMPANY

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (304) 769-1100

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Common Stock, $2.50 par value

(Title of class)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. x Yes ¨ No

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes x No ¨

The aggregate market value of the voting common equity held by nonaffiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2004 was $494,353,131. As of February 28, 2005, there were 16,616,207 shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding. (Registrant has assumed that all of its executive officers and directors are affiliates. Such assumption shall not be deemed to be conclusive for any other purpose.)

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the annual report to security holders for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004 are incorporated by reference into Part I, Item 1 and Part II, Items 5, 6, 7, 7A, and 8. Portions of the Proxy Statement for the 2005 annual shareholders’ meeting are incorporated by reference into Part III, Items 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14.

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FORM 10-K INDEX

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PART I

City Holding Company (the “Company”) is a bank holding company headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia. The Company conducts its principal activities through its wholly-owned subsidiary, City National Bank of West Virginia (“City National”). Through its network of 56 banking offices in West Virginia (54 offices) and Ohio (2 offices), City National provides credit, deposit, trust, and insurance products and services to its customers. In addition to its branch network, City National’s delivery channels include ATMs, check cards, interactive voice response systems, and internet technology. City National has approximately 7% of the deposit market share in West Virginia, and the Company is the third largest bank holding company headquartered in West Virginia based on deposit size. The Company’s business activities are currently limited to one reportable business segment, which is community banking.

No portion of City National’s deposits are derived from a single person or persons, the loss of which could have a material adverse effect on liquidity, capital, or other elements of financial performance. Although no portion of City National’s loan portfolio is concentrated within a single industry or group of related industries, it historically has held residential mortgage loans as a significant portion of its loan portfolio. At December 31, 2004, 57% of the Company’s loan portfolio was categorized as residential mortgage and home equity loans. However, due to the fractionated nature of residential mortgage lending, there is no concentration of credits that would be considered materially detrimental to the Company’s financial position or operating results.

The Company’s business is not seasonal and has no foreign sources or applications of funds. There are no anticipated material capital expenditures, or any expected material effects on earnings or the Company’s competitive position as a result of compliance with federal, state and local provisions enacted or adopted relating to environmental protection.

Competition

As noted previously, the Company’s principal markets are located in West Virginia. The majority of the Company’s banking offices are located in the areas of Charleston, Huntington, Beckley and Martinsburg where there is a significant presence of other financial service providers. In its markets, the Company competes with national, regional, and local community banks for deposit, credit, trust, and insurance customers. In addition to traditional banking organizations, the Company competes with credit unions, finance companies, insurance companies and other financial service providers who are able to provide specialty financial services to targeted customer groups. As further discussed below, changes in laws and regulations enacted in recent years have increased the competitive environment the Company faces to retain and attract customers.

Regulation and Supervision

Overview: The Company, as a registered bank holding company, and City National, as an insured depository institution, operate in a highly regulated environment and are regularly examined by federal and state regulators. The following description briefly discusses certain provisions of federal and state laws and regulations and the potential impact of such provisions to which the Company and City National are subject. These federal and state laws and regulations are designed to reduce potential loss exposure to the depositors of such depository institutions and to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s insurance fund and are not intended to protect the Company’s security holders. Proposals to change the laws and regulations governing the banking industry are frequently raised in Congress, in state legislatures, and before the various bank regulatory agencies. The likelihood and timing of any changes and the impact such changes might have on the Company are impossible to determine with any certainty. A change in applicable laws or regulations, or a change in the way such laws or regulations are interpreted by regulatory agencies or courts, may have a material impact on the business, operations and earnings of the Company. To the extent that the following information describes statutory or regulatory provisions, it is qualified entirely by reference to the particular statutory or regulatory provision.

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As a bank holding company registered under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the “BHCA”), the Company is subject to regulation by the Federal Reserve Board. Federal banking laws require a bank holding company to serve as a source of financial strength to its subsidiary depository institutions and to commit resources to support such institutions in circumstances where it might not do so otherwise. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Board has jurisdiction under the BHCA to approve any bank or nonbank acquisition, merger or consolidation proposed by a bank holding company. The BHCA generally limits the activities of a bank holding company and its subsidiaries to that of banking, managing or controlling banks, or any other activity that is so closely related to banking or to managing or controlling banks as to be a proper incident thereto. The BHCA also prohibits a bank holding company, with certain exceptions, from acquiring more than 5% of the voting shares of any company and from engaging in any business other than banking or managing or controlling banks. The Federal Reserve Board has by regulation determined that certain activities are closely related to banking within the meaning of the BHCA. These activities include: operating a mortgage company, finance company, credit card company or factoring company; performing certain data processing operations; providing investment and financial advice; and acting as an insurance agent for certain types of credit-related insurance.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“Gramm-Leach”) became law in November 1999. Gramm-Leach established a comprehensive framework to permit affiliations among commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, securities firms, and other financial service providers. Gramm-Leach permits qualifying bank holding companies to register with the Federal Reserve Board as “financial holding companies” and allows such companies to engage in a significantly broader range of financial activities than were historically permissible for bank holding companies. Although the Federal Reserve Board provides the principal regulatory supervision of financial services permitted under Gramm-Leach, the Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulators also provide substantial supervisory oversight. In addition to broadening the range of financial services a bank holding company may provide, Gramm-Leach also addressed customer privacy and information sharing issues and set forth certain customer disclosure requirements. The Company has no current plans to petition the Federal Reserve Board for consideration as a financial holding company.

The Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 (“Riegle-Neal”) permits bank holding companies to acquire banks located in any state. Riegle-Neal also allows national banks and state banks with different home states to merge across state lines and allows branch banking across state lines, unless specifically prohibited by state laws.

The International Money Laundering Abatement and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act of 2001 (USA “Patriot Act”) was adopted in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Patriot Act provides law enforcement with greater powers to investigate terrorism and prevent future terrorist acts. Among the broad-reaching provisions contained in the Patriot Act are several designed to deter terrorists’ ability to launder money in the United States and provide law enforcement with additional powers to investigate how terrorists and terrorist organizations are financed. The Patriot Act creates additional requirements for banks, which were already subject to similar regulations. The Patriot Act authorizes the Secretary of Treasury to require financial institutions to take certain “special measures” when the Secretary suspects that certain transactions or accounts are related to money laundering. These special measures may be ordered when the Secretary suspects that a jurisdiction outside of the United States, a financial institution operating outside of the United States, a class of transactions involving a jurisdiction outside of the United States or certain types of accounts are of “primary money laundering concern.” The special measures include the following: (a) require financial institutions to keep records and report on transactions or accounts at issue; (b) require financial institutions to obtain and retain information related to the beneficial ownership of any account opened or maintained by foreign persons; (c) require financial institutions to identify each customer who is permitted to use a payable-through or correspondent account and obtain certain information from each customer permitted to use the account; and (d) prohibit or impose conditions on the opening or maintaining of correspondent or payable-through accounts. Failure of a financial institution to maintain and implement adequate programs to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, or to comply with all of the relevant laws or regulations, could have serious legal and reputational consequences for the institution.

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Capital Adequacy: Federal banking regulations set forth capital adequacy guidelines, which are used by regulatory authorities to assess the adequacy of capital in examining and supervising a bank holding company and its insured depository institutions. The capital adequacy guidelines generally require bank holding companies to maintain total capital equal to at least 8% of total risk-adjusted assets, with at least one-half of total capital consisting of core capital (i.e., Tier I capital) and the remaining amount consisting of “other” capital-eligible items (i.e., Tier II capital), such as perpetual preferred stock, certain subordinated debt, and, subject to limitations, the allowance for loan losses. Tier I capital generally includes common stockholders’ equity plus, within certain limitations, perpetual preferred stock and trust preferred securities. For purposes of computing risk-based capital ratios, bank holding companies must meet specific capital guidelines that involve quantitative measures of assets, liabilities and certain off-balance sheet items, calculated under regulatory accounting practices. The Company’s and City National’s capital amounts and classifications are also subject to qualitative judgments by the regulators about components, risk weightings, and other factors.

In addition to total and Tier I capital requirements, regulatory authorities also require bank holding companies and insured depository institutions to maintain a minimum leverage capital ratio of 3%. The leverage ratio is determined as the ratio of Tier I capital to total average assets, where average assets exclude goodwill, other intangibles, and other specifically excluded assets. Regulatory authorities have stated that minimum capital ratios are adequate for those institutions that are operationally and financially sound, experiencing solid earnings, have high levels of asset quality and are not experiencing significant growth. The guidelines also provide that banking organizations experiencing internal growth or making acquisitions will be expected to maintain strong capital positions substantially above the minimum supervisory levels. In those instances where these criteria are not evident, regulatory authorities expect, and may require, bank holding companies and insured depository institutions to maintain higher than minimum capital levels.

Additionally, federal banking laws require regulatory authorities to take “prompt corrective action” with respect to depository institutions that do not satisfy minimum capital requirements. The extent of these powers depends upon whether the institutions in question are “well capitalized”, “adequately capitalized”, “undercapitalized”, “significantly undercapitalized” or “critically undercapitalized”, as such terms are defined under uniform regulations defining such capital levels issued by each of the federal banking agencies. As an example, a depository institution that is not well capitalized is generally prohibited from accepting brokered deposits and offering interest rates on deposits higher than the prevailing rate in its market. Additionally, a depository institution is generally prohibited from making any capital distribution (including payment of a dividend) or paying any management fee to its holding company, may be subject to asset growth limitations and may be required to submit capital restoration plans if the depository institution is considered undercapitalized. The Company’s and City National’s regulatory capital ratios are presented in the following table:

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Dividends and Other Payments: The Company is a legal entity separate and distinct from City National. Dividends from City National are essentially the sole source of cash for the Company. The right of the Company, and shareholders of the Company, to participate in any distribution of the assets or earnings of City National through the payment of such dividends or otherwise is necessarily subject to the prior claims of creditors of City National, except to the extent that claims of the Company in its capacity as a creditor may be recognized. Moreover, there are various legal limitations applicable to the payment of dividends to the Company as well as the payment of dividends by the Company to its shareholders. Under federal law, City National may not, subject to certain limited expectations, make loans or extensions of credit to, or invest in the securities of, or take securities of the Company as collateral for loans to any borrower. City National is also subject to collateral security requirements for any loans or extensions of credit permitted by such exceptions.

City National is subject to various statutory restrictions on its ability to pay dividends to the Company. Specifically, the approval of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) is required prior to the payment of dividends by City National in excess of its earnings retained in the current year plus retained net profits for the preceding two years. The payment of dividends by the Company and City National may also be limited by other factors, such as requirements to maintain adequate capital above regulatory guidelines. The OCC has the authority to prohibit any bank under its jurisdiction from engaging in an unsafe and unsound practice in conducting its business. Depending upon the financial condition of City National, the payment of dividends could be deemed to constitute such an unsafe or unsound practice. The Federal Reserve Board and the OCC have indicated their view that it generally would be an unsafe and unsound practice to pay dividends except out of current operating earnings. The Federal Reserve Board has stated that, as a matter of prudent banking, a bank or bank holding company should not maintain its existing rate of cash dividends on common stock unless (1) the organization’s net income available to common shareholders over the past year has been sufficient to fund fully the dividends and (2) the prospective rate of earnings retention appears consistent with the organization’s capital needs, asset quality, and overall financial condition. Moreover, the Federal Reserve Board has indicated that bank holding companies should serve as a source of managerial and financial strength to their subsidiary banks. Accordingly, the Federal Reserve Board has stated that a bank holding company should not maintain a level of cash dividends to its shareholders that places undue pressure on the capital of bank subsidiaries, or that can be funded only through additional borrowings or other arrangements that may undermine the bank holding company’s ability to serve as a source of strength.

During 2003 and 2004, City National received regulatory approval to pay $123.9 million of cash dividends to the Company, while generating net profits of $97.8 million. Therefore, City National will be required to obtain regulatory approval prior to declaring any cash dividends to the Company throughout 2005. The Company used cash obtained from these dividends primarily to: (1) pay common dividends to stockholders; (2) remit interest payments on the Company’s trust-preferred securities; and (3) fund repurchases of the Company’s common shares. Although regulatory authorities have approved prior cash dividend requests, there can be no assurance that future dividend requests will be approved.

Governmental Policies

The Federal Reserve Board regulates money and credit and interest rates in order to influence general economic conditions. These policies have a significant influence on overall growth and distribution of bank loans, investments and deposits and affect interest rates charged on loans or paid for time and savings deposits. Federal Reserve monetary policies have had a significant effect on the operating results of commercial banks in the past and are expected to continue to do so in the future.

Various other legislation, including proposals to overhaul the banking regulatory system and to limit the investments that a depository institution may make with insured funds, are from time to time introduced in Congress. The Company cannot determine the ultimate effect that such potential legislation, if enacted, would have upon its financial condition or operations.

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Executive Officers of the Registrant

At December 31, 2004, the executive officers of the Company were as follows:

Effective February 1, 2005, Mr. Francis voluntarily terminated his employment with the Company as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Francis will continue to serve as the Company’s non-executive Chairman of the Board Directors. The Company named Mr. Hageboeck to succeed Mr. Francis as President and Chief Executive Officer effective February 1, 2005.

Effective February 23, 2005, Mr. Butcher and the Company entered into a Joint Agreement of Separation whereby the parties mutually agreed to sever their existing employment relationship. The Company named Mr. Stilwell as Executive Vice President of Retail Banking effective February 23, 2005.

Employees

The Company had 691 full-time equivalent employees at December 31, 2004.

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Available Information

The Company’s Internet website address is www.cityholding.com. The Company makes available free of charge through its website its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable after such documents are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information on the Company’s website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this report or incorporated into any other filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of the Company’s annual report will be made available, free of charge, upon written request.

Statistical Information

The information noted below is provided pursuant to Guide 3 — Statistical Disclosure by Bank Holding Companies. Page references are to the Annual Report to Shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2004 and such pages have been filed as an exhibit to this Form 10-K and are incorporated herein by reference.

City National owns the Company’s executive offices, located at 25 Gatewater Road, Charleston, West Virginia. City National operates 56 branch offices, with 54 offices in West Virginia and two offices in southeastern Ohio. The West Virginia locations are primarily centered in the Charleston, Huntington, Beckley, and Martinsburg markets. City National owns 41 locations and leases 15 locations, pursuant to operating leases. All of the properties are suitable and adequate for their current operations and are generally being fully utilized.

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City National also owns a thirty thousand square foot office building in an unincorporated area approximately fifteen miles west of Charleston, West Virginia. This facility formally housed loan operations personnel, but has since been vacated. The building is currently being marketed for sale.

On December 31, 2001, the Company, its previous management team, and members of the Boards of Directors of both the Company and City National (the “defendants”) were named in a derivative action filed by a shareholder seeking to recover damages on behalf of the Company. In January 2004, the Company announced that a tentative settlement had been reached in this litigation. Subsequently, the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, approved the settlement and the Company received insurance proceeds of approximately $5.5 million or $0.19 diluted earnings per share, net of taxes, in April 2004.

In addition, the Company is engaged in various legal actions that it deems to be in the ordinary course of business. The Company believes that it has adequately provided for probable costs of current litigation. As these legal actions are resolved, the Company could realize positive and/or negative impact to its financial performance in the period in which these legal actions are ultimately decided. There can be no assurance that current actions will have immaterial results, either positive or negative, or that no material actions may be presented in the future.

None.

PART II

Pages 2 and 41-42 of the Annual Report to Shareholders of City Holding Company for the year ended December 31, 2004, included in this report as Exhibit 13, are incorporated herein by reference.

Selected Financial Data on page 1 of the Annual Report to Shareholders of City Holding Company for the year ended December 31, 2004, included in this report as Exhibit 13, is incorporated herein by reference.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations on pages 2 through 22 of the Annual Report to Shareholders of City Holding Company for the year ended December 31, 2004, included in this report as Exhibit 13, is incorporated herein by reference.

Information appearing under the caption “Risk Management” appearing on page 10 of the Annual Report to Shareholders of City Holding Company for the year ended December 31, 2004, included in this report as Exhibit 13, is incorporated herein by reference.

The consolidated financial statements, notes to consolidated financial statements, reports of management and the independent registered public accounting firm included on pages 23 through 48 of the Annual Report to Shareholders of City Holding Company for the year ended December 31, 2004, included in this report as Exhibit 13, are incorporated herein by reference.

None

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Pursuant to Rule 13a-15b under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Company carried out an evaluation, with the participation of the Company’s management, including the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined under Rule 13a-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based upon that evaluation, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures are effective in timely alerting them to material information relating to the Company required to be included in the Company’s periodic Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

None

PART III

Information concerning the directors of the Company will appear under the caption “ELECTION OF DIRECTORS” in the Company’s 2005 Proxy Statement that will be filed within 120 days of fiscal year end and is hereby incorporated by reference.

Certain information regarding executive officers is included under the section captioned “Executive Officers of The Registrant” in Part I, Item 1, elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Information concerning the Company’s audit committee is included under the caption “AUDIT COMMITTEE” in the Company’s 2005 Proxy Statement that will be filed within 120 days of fiscal year end and is hereby incorporated by reference.

Information concerning compliance with Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 will be provided under the caption “SECTION 16(a) BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REPORTING COMPLIANCE” in the Company’s 2005 Proxy Statement that will be filed within 120 days of fiscal year end and is hereby incorporated by reference.

The Company has adopted a Code of Ethics that applies to the Company’s chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief accounting officer, and all directors, officers and employees of the Company and has posted such Code of Ethics on its website at www.cityholding.com under the “Corporate Governance” link. A copy of the Company’s Code of Ethics covering all employees will be mailed upon request to Investor Relations, City Holding Company, 25 Gatewater Road, P. O. Box 7520, Charleston, WV 25356-0520. Any amendments to or waivers from any provision of the Code of Ethics applicable to the Company’s chief executive officer, chief financial officer, or chief accounting officer will be disclosed by timely posting such information on the Company’s internet website.

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The information required by Item 11 of FORM 10-K appears under the captions “EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION”, “COMPENSATION OF DIRECTORS”, “COMPENSATION COMMITTEE REPORT ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION”, and “OTHER EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION PLANS AND ARRANGEMENTS” in the Company’s 2005 Proxy Statement that will be filed within 120 days of fiscal year end and is hereby incorporated by reference.

The information required by Item 12 of FORM 10-K appears under the captions “STOCK OWNERSHIP OF DIRECTORS, NOMINEES FOR DIRECTOR AND NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS” and “EQUITY COMPENSATION PLAN INFORMATION” in the Company’s 2005 Proxy Statement that will be filed within 120 days of fiscal year end and is hereby incorporated by reference.

The information required by Item 13 of FORM 10-K appears under the caption “CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING DIRECTORS AND EXECUTIVE OFFICERS” in the Company’s 2005 Proxy Statement that will be filed within 120 days of fiscal year end and is hereby incorporated by reference.

The information required by Item 14 of FORM 10-K appears under the caption “PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES” in the Company’s 2005 Proxy Statement that will be filed within 120 days of fiscal year end and is hereby incorporated by reference.

PART IV

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report on Form 10-K has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities indicated on February 23, 2005. Each of the directors and/or officers of City Holding Company whose signature appears below hereby appoints Gerald R. Francis and/or Charles R. Hageboeck, as his attorney-in-fact to sign in his name and behalf, in any and all capacities stated below and to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, any and all amendments to this report on Form 10-K, making such changes in this report on Form 10-K as appropriate, and generally to do all such things in their behalf in their capacities as officers and directors to enable City Holding Company to comply with the provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and all requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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EXHIBIT INDEX

The following exhibits are filed herewith or are incorporated herein by reference.

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