Appalachia vs Big Stone Gap

A side-by-side comparison of Appalachia and Big Stone Gap: population, income, housing, and more.

Appalachia and Big Stone Gap are places in Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Big Stone Gap has the higher population (5,193 vs 1,612 in Appalachia). Big Stone Gap has the higher median household income ($51,059 vs $38,942 in Appalachia). Big Stone Gap has the higher median home value ($169,900 vs $65,500 in Appalachia).

Population, income & housing

	Appalachia	Big Stone Gap
Population	1,612	5,193
Median age	40.0 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$38,942	$51,059
Median home value	$65,500	$169,900
Median gross rent	$665	$823
Housing units	857	1,963
Homeownership rate	60.3%	62.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	18.8%
Unemployment rate	14.3%	7.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Appalachia	Big Stone Gap
Population	1,444 → 1,612 (+11.6%)	5,257 → 5,193 (-1.2%)
Median household income	$27,554 → $38,942 (+41.3%)	$46,979 → $51,059 (+8.7%)
Median home value	$58,700 → $65,500 (+11.6%)	$126,100 → $169,900 (+34.7%)
Median gross rent	$370 → $665 (+79.7%)	$690 → $823 (+19.3%)

Appalachia

Population

1,4441,612

Median household income

$27,554$38,942

Median home value

$58,700$65,500

Median gross rent

$370$665

Big Stone Gap

Population

5,2575,193

Median household income

$46,979$51,059

Median home value

$126,100$169,900

Median gross rent

$690$823

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Appalachia	Big Stone Gap
Under 5	5.6%	3.6%
5 to 17	23.1%	16.0%
18 to 24	8.5%	6.5%
25 to 34	8.6%	15.8%
35 to 44	10.2%	15.2%
45 to 54	14.8%	11.5%
55 to 64	13.3%	10.9%
65 to 74	10.9%	14.4%
75 and over	5.0%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Appalachia	Big Stone Gap
White (non-Hispanic)	82.6%	74.4%
Black or African American	6.9%	19.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	0.0%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	7.8%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	1.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Appalachia	Big Stone Gap
No high school diploma	13.9%	19.1%
High school graduate	29.1%	22.3%
Some college or associate's	41.4%	39.7%
Bachelor's degree	10.1%	11.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Appalachia	Big Stone Gap
Drove alone	83.9%	76.7%
Carpooled	6.7%	7.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.2%	8.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.1%	6.1%
Other means	0.0%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Appalachia	Big Stone Gap
1-unit, detached	66.9%	77.0%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	6.9%	7.1%
5 to 19 units	16.6%	2.5%
20 or more units	3.3%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	5.7%	11.6%

Poverty & households

	Appalachia	Big Stone Gap
Poverty rate	32.5%	23.3%
Average household size	2.41	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	23	19
Median year structure built	1962	1972