South Riding vs Sterling

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

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

South Riding has the higher population (34,200 vs 31,251 in Sterling). South Riding has the higher median household income ($190,701 vs $125,753 in Sterling). South Riding has the higher median home value ($689,400 vs $508,400 in Sterling).

Population, income & housing

	South Riding	Sterling
Population	34,200	31,251
Median age	38.2 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$190,701	$125,753
Median home value	$689,400	$508,400
Median gross rent	$2,853	$1,979
Housing units	10,452	10,017
Homeownership rate	83.1%	75.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	66.5%	37.3%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	South Riding	Sterling
Population	31,515 → 34,200 (+8.5%)	30,271 → 31,251 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$158,996 → $190,701 (+19.9%)	$97,647 → $125,753 (+28.8%)
Median home value	$528,400 → $689,400 (+30.5%)	$359,000 → $508,400 (+41.6%)
Median gross rent	$2,256 → $2,853 (+26.5%)	$1,812 → $1,979 (+9.2%)

South Riding

Population

31,51534,200

Median household income

$158,996$190,701

Median home value

$528,400$689,400

Median gross rent

$2,256$2,853

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)

	South Riding	Sterling
Under 5	5.7%	7.8%
5 to 17	22.9%	16.7%
18 to 24	6.3%	9.5%
25 to 34	10.3%	16.4%
35 to 44	20.2%	17.1%
45 to 54	19.0%	11.8%
55 to 64	9.5%	10.6%
65 to 74	4.1%	6.4%
75 and over	1.9%	3.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	South Riding	Sterling
White (non-Hispanic)	37.1%	28.0%
Black or African American	9.0%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	35.7%	13.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	1.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	6.1%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	10.6%	49.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	South Riding	Sterling
No high school diploma	5.9%	20.9%
High school graduate	11.3%	19.8%
Some college or associate's	16.4%	21.9%
Bachelor's degree	33.4%	25.4%
Graduate or professional degree	33.1%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	South Riding	Sterling
Drove alone	61.4%	66.8%
Carpooled	7.2%	17.1%
Public transit	1.5%	1.1%
Walked	1.4%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	27.3%	12.9%
Other means	1.0%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	South Riding	Sterling
1-unit, detached	46.7%	51.0%
1-unit, attached	45.8%	29.0%
2 to 4 units	1.5%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	4.3%	9.0%
20 or more units	0.9%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	South Riding	Sterling
Poverty rate	4.0%	6.8%
Average household size	3.28	3.22
Mean commute (minutes)	34	26
Median year structure built	2006	1981