Ashburn vs Sterling

A side-by-side comparison of Ashburn and Sterling: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ashburn has the higher population (45,551 vs 31,251 in Sterling). Ashburn has the higher median household income ($152,094 vs $125,753 in Sterling). Ashburn has the higher median home value ($659,000 vs $508,400 in Sterling).

Population, income & housing

	Ashburn	Sterling
Population	45,551	31,251
Median age	41.3 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$152,094	$125,753
Median home value	$659,000	$508,400
Median gross rent	$2,397	$1,979
Housing units	17,737	10,017
Homeownership rate	68.5%	75.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	65.9%	37.3%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ashburn	Sterling
Population	49,848 → 45,551 (-8.6%)	30,271 → 31,251 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$132,331 → $152,094 (+14.9%)	$97,647 → $125,753 (+28.8%)
Median home value	$493,400 → $659,000 (+33.6%)	$359,000 → $508,400 (+41.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,897 → $2,397 (+26.4%)	$1,812 → $1,979 (+9.2%)

Ashburn

Population

49,84845,551

Median household income

$132,331$152,094

Median home value

$493,400$659,000

Median gross rent

$1,897$2,397

Sterling

Population

30,27131,251

Median household income

$97,647$125,753

Median home value

$359,000$508,400

Median gross rent

$1,812$1,979

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ashburn	Sterling
Under 5	5.1%	7.8%
5 to 17	17.8%	16.7%
18 to 24	8.1%	9.5%
25 to 34	10.5%	16.4%
35 to 44	14.0%	17.1%
45 to 54	15.1%	11.8%
55 to 64	12.4%	10.6%
65 to 74	7.4%	6.4%
75 and over	9.6%	3.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ashburn	Sterling
White (non-Hispanic)	55.9%	28.0%
Black or African American	8.0%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	21.5%	13.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.9%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	9.2%	49.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ashburn	Sterling
No high school diploma	4.5%	20.9%
High school graduate	10.3%	19.8%
Some college or associate's	19.3%	21.9%
Bachelor's degree	36.4%	25.4%
Graduate or professional degree	29.5%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ashburn	Sterling
Drove alone	63.6%	66.8%
Carpooled	6.2%	17.1%
Public transit	2.2%	1.1%
Walked	0.7%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	25.8%	12.9%
Other means	1.3%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ashburn	Sterling
1-unit, detached	37.3%	51.0%
1-unit, attached	31.3%	29.0%
2 to 4 units	1.1%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	12.4%	9.0%
20 or more units	17.8%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Ashburn	Sterling
Poverty rate	3.6%	6.8%
Average household size	2.66	3.22
Mean commute (minutes)	29	26
Median year structure built	1999	1981