Appalachia vs Wise

A side-by-side comparison of Appalachia and Wise: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wise has the higher population (2,940 vs 1,612 in Appalachia). Wise has the higher median household income ($44,234 vs $38,942 in Appalachia). Wise has the higher median home value ($118,100 vs $65,500 in Appalachia).

Population, income & housing

	Appalachia	Wise
Population	1,612	2,940
Median age	40.0 yrs	33.1 yrs
Median household income	$38,942	$44,234
Median home value	$65,500	$118,100
Median gross rent	$665	$782
Housing units	857	1,478
Homeownership rate	60.3%	68.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	29.0%
Unemployment rate	14.3%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Appalachia	Wise
Population	1,444 → 1,612 (+11.6%)	3,007 → 2,940 (-2.2%)
Median household income	$27,554 → $38,942 (+41.3%)	$49,470 → $44,234 (-10.6%)
Median home value	$58,700 → $65,500 (+11.6%)	$136,000 → $118,100 (-13.2%)
Median gross rent	$370 → $665 (+79.7%)	$646 → $782 (+21.1%)

Appalachia

Population

1,4441,612

Median household income

$27,554$38,942

Median home value

$58,700$65,500

Median gross rent

$370$665

Wise

Population

3,0072,940

Median household income

$49,470$44,234

Median home value

$136,000$118,100

Median gross rent

$646$782

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Appalachia	Wise
Under 5	5.6%	8.5%
5 to 17	23.1%	15.4%
18 to 24	8.5%	10.7%
25 to 34	8.6%	17.4%
35 to 44	10.2%	8.1%
45 to 54	14.8%	12.4%
55 to 64	13.3%	12.4%
65 to 74	10.9%	12.7%
75 and over	5.0%	2.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Appalachia	Wise
White (non-Hispanic)	82.6%	94.7%
Black or African American	6.9%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.8%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	0.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Appalachia	Wise
No high school diploma	13.9%	19.2%
High school graduate	29.1%	27.0%
Some college or associate's	41.4%	24.9%
Bachelor's degree	10.1%	15.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	13.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Appalachia	Wise
Drove alone	83.9%	63.7%
Carpooled	6.7%	10.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.2%	7.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.1%	17.9%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Appalachia	Wise
1-unit, detached	66.9%	59.3%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	6.9%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	16.6%	6.7%
20 or more units	3.3%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	5.7%	24.1%

Poverty & households

	Appalachia	Wise
Poverty rate	32.5%	21.3%
Average household size	2.41	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	23	18
Median year structure built	1962	1979