Fort Chiswell vs Rural Retreat

A side-by-side comparison of Fort Chiswell and Rural Retreat: population, income, housing, and more.

Fort Chiswell and Rural Retreat are places in Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Rural Retreat has the higher population (1,614 vs 770 in Fort Chiswell). Fort Chiswell has the higher median household income ($85,147 vs $60,114 in Rural Retreat). Fort Chiswell has the higher median home value ($191,700 vs $167,900 in Rural Retreat).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Chiswell	Rural Retreat
Population	770	1,614
Median age	40.4 yrs	41.9 yrs
Median household income	$85,147	$60,114
Median home value	$191,700	$167,900
Median gross rent	$955	$778
Housing units	372	768
Homeownership rate	85.1%	84.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	8.5%	24.4%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Chiswell	Rural Retreat
Population	960 → 770 (-19.8%)	1,702 → 1,614 (-5.2%)
Median household income	$67,083 → $85,147 (+26.9%)	$49,107 → $60,114 (+22.4%)
Median home value	$138,500 → $191,700 (+38.4%)	$134,100 → $167,900 (+25.2%)
Median gross rent	—	$674 → $778 (+15.4%)

Fort Chiswell

Population

960770

Median household income

$67,083$85,147

Median home value

$138,500$191,700

Rural Retreat

Population

1,7021,614

Median household income

$49,107$60,114

Median home value

$134,100$167,900

Median gross rent

$674$778

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fort Chiswell	Rural Retreat
Under 5	1.8%	7.3%
5 to 17	14.2%	17.2%
18 to 24	12.3%	7.6%
25 to 34	15.8%	8.3%
35 to 44	13.0%	16.4%
45 to 54	19.1%	10.8%
55 to 64	8.6%	12.5%
65 to 74	15.2%	9.7%
75 and over	0.0%	10.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Chiswell	Rural Retreat
White (non-Hispanic)	100.0%	95.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	0.0%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Chiswell	Rural Retreat
No high school diploma	0.9%	5.7%
High school graduate	30.4%	38.9%
Some college or associate's	60.1%	30.9%
Bachelor's degree	8.5%	16.2%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	8.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Chiswell	Rural Retreat
Drove alone	85.6%	83.4%
Carpooled	11.7%	7.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.7%	6.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Chiswell	Rural Retreat
1-unit, detached	70.7%	79.6%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	13.4%	8.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	2.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	13.4%	10.0%

Poverty & households

	Fort Chiswell	Rural Retreat
Poverty rate	4.9%	20.4%
Average household size	2.29	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	27	25
Median year structure built	1993	1977