Big Stone Gap vs Wise

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

Big Stone Gap and Wise 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 2,940 in Wise). Big Stone Gap has the higher median household income ($51,059 vs $44,234 in Wise). Big Stone Gap has the higher median home value ($169,900 vs $118,100 in Wise).

Population, income & housing

	Big Stone Gap	Wise
Population	5,193	2,940
Median age	41.1 yrs	33.1 yrs
Median household income	$51,059	$44,234
Median home value	$169,900	$118,100
Median gross rent	$823	$782
Housing units	1,963	1,478
Homeownership rate	62.0%	68.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.8%	29.0%
Unemployment rate	7.5%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Stone Gap	Wise
Population	5,257 → 5,193 (-1.2%)	3,007 → 2,940 (-2.2%)
Median household income	$46,979 → $51,059 (+8.7%)	$49,470 → $44,234 (-10.6%)
Median home value	$126,100 → $169,900 (+34.7%)	$136,000 → $118,100 (-13.2%)
Median gross rent	$690 → $823 (+19.3%)	$646 → $782 (+21.1%)

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

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)

	Big Stone Gap	Wise
Under 5	3.6%	8.5%
5 to 17	16.0%	15.4%
18 to 24	6.5%	10.7%
25 to 34	15.8%	17.4%
35 to 44	15.2%	8.1%
45 to 54	11.5%	12.4%
55 to 64	10.9%	12.4%
65 to 74	14.4%	12.7%
75 and over	6.2%	2.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Stone Gap	Wise
White (non-Hispanic)	74.4%	94.7%
Black or African American	19.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	1.1%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.2%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	1.4%	0.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Stone Gap	Wise
No high school diploma	19.1%	19.2%
High school graduate	22.3%	27.0%
Some college or associate's	39.7%	24.9%
Bachelor's degree	11.8%	15.1%
Graduate or professional degree	7.0%	13.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Stone Gap	Wise
Drove alone	76.7%	63.7%
Carpooled	7.6%	10.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	8.1%	7.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.1%	17.9%
Other means	1.5%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Stone Gap	Wise
1-unit, detached	77.0%	59.3%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	2.5%	6.7%
20 or more units	1.8%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	11.6%	24.1%

Poverty & households

	Big Stone Gap	Wise
Poverty rate	23.3%	21.3%
Average household size	2.22	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	19	18
Median year structure built	1972	1979