Blacksburg vs Merrimac

A side-by-side comparison of Blacksburg and Merrimac: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Blacksburg has the higher population (45,288 vs 2,955 in Merrimac). Merrimac has the higher median household income ($55,202 vs $48,070 in Blacksburg). Blacksburg has the higher median home value ($417,200 vs $73,400 in Merrimac).

Population, income & housing

	Blacksburg	Merrimac
Population	45,288	2,955
Median age	21.9 yrs	43.1 yrs
Median household income	$48,070	$55,202
Median home value	$417,200	$73,400
Median gross rent	$1,290	$1,099
Housing units	16,893	1,715
Homeownership rate	34.2%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	69.7%	42.4%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	3.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Blacksburg	Merrimac
Population	44,303 → 45,288 (+2.2%)	2,651 → 2,955 (+11.5%)
Median household income	$43,173 → $48,070 (+11.3%)	$43,846 → $55,202 (+25.9%)
Median home value	$298,400 → $417,200 (+39.8%)	$211,400 → $73,400 (-65.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,107 → $1,290 (+16.5%)	$662 → $1,099 (+66.0%)

Blacksburg

Population

44,30345,288

Median household income

$43,173$48,070

Median home value

$298,400$417,200

Median gross rent

$1,107$1,290

Merrimac

Population

2,6512,955

Median household income

$43,846$55,202

Median home value

$211,400$73,400

Median gross rent

$662$1,099

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Blacksburg	Merrimac
Under 5	2.6%	2.5%
5 to 17	7.1%	7.0%
18 to 24	53.5%	10.2%
25 to 34	10.5%	21.5%
35 to 44	7.9%	13.4%
45 to 54	5.7%	9.1%
55 to 64	4.9%	4.9%
65 to 74	5.0%	13.2%
75 and over	2.8%	18.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Blacksburg	Merrimac
White (non-Hispanic)	75.6%	70.8%
Black or African American	4.3%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	1.0%
Asian	10.8%	5.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	2.9%
Two or more races	3.5%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	12.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Blacksburg	Merrimac
No high school diploma	1.7%	7.7%
High school graduate	11.8%	28.4%
Some college or associate's	16.8%	21.6%
Bachelor's degree	28.7%	14.9%
Graduate or professional degree	41.1%	27.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Blacksburg	Merrimac
Drove alone	53.9%	70.7%
Carpooled	6.6%	7.0%
Public transit	6.6%	11.7%
Walked	10.8%	2.5%
Bicycle	2.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.2%	8.2%
Other means	2.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Blacksburg	Merrimac
1-unit, detached	37.5%	15.0%
1-unit, attached	6.0%	4.1%
2 to 4 units	10.8%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	35.1%	21.9%
20 or more units	8.7%	23.2%
Mobile home & other	1.9%	32.6%

Poverty & households

	Blacksburg	Merrimac
Poverty rate	42.8%	11.8%
Average household size	2.55	1.83
Mean commute (minutes)	15	14
Median year structure built	1983	1989