Blacksburg vs Shawsville

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

Blacksburg and Shawsville 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 1,725 in Shawsville). Shawsville has the higher median household income ($70,469 vs $48,070 in Blacksburg). Blacksburg has the higher median home value ($417,200 vs $84,300 in Shawsville).

Population, income & housing

	Blacksburg	Shawsville
Population	45,288	1,725
Median age	21.9 yrs	34.5 yrs
Median household income	$48,070	$70,469
Median home value	$417,200	$84,300
Median gross rent	$1,290	$1,115
Housing units	16,893	563
Homeownership rate	34.2%	84.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	69.7%	11.5%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Blacksburg	Shawsville
Population	44,303 → 45,288 (+2.2%)	1,548 → 1,725 (+11.4%)
Median household income	$43,173 → $48,070 (+11.3%)	$60,212 → $70,469 (+17.0%)
Median home value	$298,400 → $417,200 (+39.8%)	$111,600 → $84,300 (-24.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,107 → $1,290 (+16.5%)	$906 → $1,115 (+23.1%)

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

Shawsville

Population

1,5481,725

Median household income

$60,212$70,469

Median home value

$111,600$84,300

Median gross rent

$906$1,115

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Blacksburg	Shawsville
Under 5	2.6%	5.2%
5 to 17	7.1%	22.8%
18 to 24	53.5%	0.0%
25 to 34	10.5%	27.9%
35 to 44	7.9%	14.3%
45 to 54	5.7%	4.5%
55 to 64	4.9%	19.1%
65 to 74	5.0%	4.6%
75 and over	2.8%	1.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Blacksburg	Shawsville
White (non-Hispanic)	75.6%	86.6%
Black or African American	4.3%	6.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	10.8%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	1.0%
Two or more races	3.5%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Blacksburg	Shawsville
No high school diploma	1.7%	11.0%
High school graduate	11.8%	46.5%
Some college or associate's	16.8%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	28.7%	10.5%
Graduate or professional degree	41.1%	1.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Blacksburg	Shawsville
Drove alone	53.9%	96.6%
Carpooled	6.6%	1.2%
Public transit	6.6%	0.0%
Walked	10.8%	0.0%
Bicycle	2.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.2%	2.2%
Other means	2.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Blacksburg	Shawsville
1-unit, detached	37.5%	38.7%
1-unit, attached	6.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	10.8%	2.7%
5 to 19 units	35.1%	0.0%
20 or more units	8.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.9%	58.6%

Poverty & households

	Blacksburg	Shawsville
Poverty rate	42.8%	11.7%
Average household size	2.55	3.06
Mean commute (minutes)	15	22
Median year structure built	1983	1976