Bluefield vs Richlands

A side-by-side comparison of Bluefield and Richlands: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Richlands has the higher population (5,188 vs 5,016 in Bluefield). Bluefield has the higher median household income ($53,500 vs $37,382 in Richlands). Bluefield has the higher median home value ($161,100 vs $107,300 in Richlands).

Population, income & housing

	Bluefield	Richlands
Population	5,016	5,188
Median age	38.5 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$53,500	$37,382
Median home value	$161,100	$107,300
Median gross rent	$818	$824
Housing units	2,224	2,711
Homeownership rate	66.0%	65.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.7%	14.8%
Unemployment rate	1.9%	7.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bluefield	Richlands
Population	4,907 → 5,016 (+2.2%)	5,368 → 5,188 (-3.4%)
Median household income	$45,625 → $53,500 (+17.3%)	$30,600 → $37,382 (+22.2%)
Median home value	$117,700 → $161,100 (+36.9%)	$84,600 → $107,300 (+26.8%)
Median gross rent	$681 → $818 (+20.1%)	$666 → $824 (+23.7%)

Bluefield

Population

4,9075,016

Median household income

$45,625$53,500

Median home value

$117,700$161,100

Median gross rent

$681$818

Richlands

Population

5,3685,188

Median household income

$30,600$37,382

Median home value

$84,600$107,300

Median gross rent

$666$824

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bluefield	Richlands
Under 5	7.0%	5.2%
5 to 17	14.6%	16.8%
18 to 24	15.2%	7.9%
25 to 34	9.9%	12.0%
35 to 44	6.9%	10.3%
45 to 54	12.0%	13.7%
55 to 64	10.8%	10.7%
65 to 74	8.3%	11.6%
75 and over	15.4%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bluefield	Richlands
White (non-Hispanic)	86.0%	97.6%
Black or African American	8.2%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.6%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.2%	0.4%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bluefield	Richlands
No high school diploma	9.4%	13.4%
High school graduate	28.3%	41.3%
Some college or associate's	30.7%	30.4%
Bachelor's degree	19.1%	8.5%
Graduate or professional degree	12.6%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bluefield	Richlands
Drove alone	84.6%	84.1%
Carpooled	4.8%	9.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	0.4%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.4%	4.2%
Other means	0.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bluefield	Richlands
1-unit, detached	74.3%	58.2%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	6.5%
5 to 19 units	12.1%	4.7%
20 or more units	1.6%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	5.2%	27.4%

Poverty & households

	Bluefield	Richlands
Poverty rate	14.9%	28.0%
Average household size	2.26	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	22	24
Median year structure built	1963	1973