Leesburg vs Sterling

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

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

Leesburg has the higher population (48,788 vs 31,251 in Sterling). Leesburg has the higher median household income ($140,668 vs $125,753 in Sterling). Leesburg has the higher median home value ($617,700 vs $508,400 in Sterling).

Population, income & housing

	Leesburg	Sterling
Population	48,788	31,251
Median age	35.6 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$140,668	$125,753
Median home value	$617,700	$508,400
Median gross rent	$1,980	$1,979
Housing units	17,252	10,017
Homeownership rate	69.1%	75.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	56.2%	37.3%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Leesburg	Sterling
Population	52,994 → 48,788 (-7.9%)	30,271 → 31,251 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$114,444 → $140,668 (+22.9%)	$97,647 → $125,753 (+28.8%)
Median home value	$434,300 → $617,700 (+42.2%)	$359,000 → $508,400 (+41.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,624 → $1,980 (+21.9%)	$1,812 → $1,979 (+9.2%)

Leesburg

Population

52,99448,788

Median household income

$114,444$140,668

Median home value

$434,300$617,700

Median gross rent

$1,624$1,980

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)

	Leesburg	Sterling
Under 5	8.2%	7.8%
5 to 17	17.5%	16.7%
18 to 24	8.1%	9.5%
25 to 34	15.3%	16.4%
35 to 44	15.8%	17.1%
45 to 54	13.6%	11.8%
55 to 64	11.6%	10.6%
65 to 74	5.8%	6.4%
75 and over	4.0%	3.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Leesburg	Sterling
White (non-Hispanic)	56.0%	28.0%
Black or African American	9.9%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	10.4%	13.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.8%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	18.5%	49.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Leesburg	Sterling
No high school diploma	7.0%	20.9%
High school graduate	16.5%	19.8%
Some college or associate's	20.3%	21.9%
Bachelor's degree	34.3%	25.4%
Graduate or professional degree	21.9%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Leesburg	Sterling
Drove alone	64.4%	66.8%
Carpooled	6.1%	17.1%
Public transit	1.6%	1.1%
Walked	1.0%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	25.5%	12.9%
Other means	1.2%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Leesburg	Sterling
1-unit, detached	41.5%	51.0%
1-unit, attached	30.3%	29.0%
2 to 4 units	1.1%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	20.8%	9.0%
20 or more units	5.0%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Leesburg	Sterling
Poverty rate	7.6%	6.8%
Average household size	2.89	3.22
Mean commute (minutes)	27	26
Median year structure built	1993	1981