Lorton vs Merrifield

A side-by-side comparison of Lorton and Merrifield: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lorton has the higher population (21,961 vs 20,549 in Merrifield). Lorton has the higher median household income ($136,719 vs $136,173 in Merrifield). Merrifield has the higher median home value ($637,600 vs $583,900 in Lorton).

Population, income & housing

	Lorton	Merrifield
Population	21,961	20,549
Median age	36.9 yrs	34.4 yrs
Median household income	$136,719	$136,173
Median home value	$583,900	$637,600
Median gross rent	$2,537	$2,308
Housing units	7,254	9,833
Homeownership rate	64.2%	36.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	58.2%	76.0%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lorton	Merrifield
Population	20,871 → 21,961 (+5.2%)	18,291 → 20,549 (+12.3%)
Median household income	$106,847 → $136,719 (+28.0%)	$114,219 → $136,173 (+19.2%)
Median home value	$461,200 → $583,900 (+26.6%)	$494,700 → $637,600 (+28.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,912 → $2,537 (+32.7%)	$2,021 → $2,308 (+14.2%)

Lorton

Population

20,87121,961

Median household income

$106,847$136,719

Median home value

$461,200$583,900

Median gross rent

$1,912$2,537

Merrifield

Population

18,29120,549

Median household income

$114,219$136,173

Median home value

$494,700$637,600

Median gross rent

$2,021$2,308

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lorton	Merrifield
Under 5	6.2%	4.8%
5 to 17	21.6%	11.9%
18 to 24	10.9%	7.6%
25 to 34	9.1%	27.8%
35 to 44	13.3%	19.1%
45 to 54	16.7%	12.0%
55 to 64	11.9%	9.2%
65 to 74	4.7%	5.1%
75 and over	5.6%	2.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lorton	Merrifield
White (non-Hispanic)	27.9%	39.9%
Black or African American	30.1%	8.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	18.7%	32.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.3%	2.2%
Two or more races	5.7%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	16.3%	13.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lorton	Merrifield
No high school diploma	6.4%	5.5%
High school graduate	15.3%	7.8%
Some college or associate's	20.0%	10.7%
Bachelor's degree	33.9%	35.5%
Graduate or professional degree	24.3%	40.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lorton	Merrifield
Drove alone	57.9%	47.1%
Carpooled	10.6%	8.6%
Public transit	5.3%	9.8%
Walked	2.5%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	22.3%	29.5%
Other means	1.4%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lorton	Merrifield
1-unit, detached	35.3%	10.8%
1-unit, attached	37.7%	25.2%
2 to 4 units	0.7%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	15.2%	11.0%
20 or more units	11.2%	50.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Lorton	Merrifield
Poverty rate	9.5%	6.5%
Average household size	3.24	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1997	2001