Forest vs Moneta

A side-by-side comparison of Forest and Moneta: population, income, housing, and more.

Forest and Moneta are places in Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Forest has the higher population (12,476 vs 301 in Moneta). Forest has the higher median home value ($319,100 vs $302,700 in Moneta). Since 2019, Forest's population has grown faster (+15.1% vs -32.1%).

Population, income & housing

	Forest	Moneta
Population	12,476	301
Median age	42.1 yrs	58.9 yrs
Median household income	$78,825	—
Median home value	$319,100	$302,700
Median gross rent	$1,112	$1,321
Housing units	5,193	203
Homeownership rate	75.0%	71.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.4%	30.3%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	8.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forest	Moneta
Population	10,836 → 12,476 (+15.1%)	443 → 301 (-32.1%)
Median household income	$76,367 → $78,825 (+3.2%)	$37,188 → $31,141 (-16.3%)
Median home value	$234,500 → $319,100 (+36.1%)	$140,000 → $302,700 (+116.2%)
Median gross rent	$988 → $1,112 (+12.6%)	$1,388 → $1,321 (-4.8%)

Forest

Population

10,83612,476

Median household income

$76,367$78,825

Median home value

$234,500$319,100

Median gross rent

$988$1,112

Moneta

Population

443301

Median household income

$37,188$31,141

Median home value

$140,000$302,700

Median gross rent

$1,388$1,321

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forest	Moneta
Under 5	5.3%	3.7%
5 to 17	14.2%	10.6%
18 to 24	10.4%	6.6%
25 to 34	12.0%	6.3%
35 to 44	10.6%	6.6%
45 to 54	11.6%	11.0%
55 to 64	14.8%	16.6%
65 to 74	10.6%	31.6%
75 and over	10.5%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forest	Moneta
White (non-Hispanic)	76.9%	96.3%
Black or African American	9.9%	3.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.5%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.5%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	3.6%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forest	Moneta
No high school diploma	4.7%	0.0%
High school graduate	17.4%	21.4%
Some college or associate's	29.4%	48.3%
Bachelor's degree	26.2%	26.5%
Graduate or professional degree	22.3%	3.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forest	Moneta
Drove alone	77.1%	82.7%
Carpooled	5.2%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.8%	17.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	16.0%	0.0%
Other means	0.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forest	Moneta
1-unit, detached	56.8%	52.2%
1-unit, attached	15.6%	9.4%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	10.8%
5 to 19 units	12.0%	15.3%
20 or more units	7.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	12.3%

Poverty & households

	Forest	Moneta
Poverty rate	7.5%	24.3%
Average household size	2.44	1.66
Mean commute (minutes)	22	34
Median year structure built	1991	2002