Alexandria city vs Stafford County

A side-by-side comparison of Alexandria city and Stafford County: population, income, housing, and more.

Alexandria city and Stafford County are counties in Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Stafford County has the higher population (160,520 vs 156,788 in Alexandria city). Stafford County has the higher median household income ($133,792 vs $113,638 in Alexandria city). Alexandria city has the higher median home value ($696,800 vs $458,800 in Stafford County).

Population, income & housing

	Alexandria city	Stafford County
Population	156,788	160,520
Median age	37.5 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$113,638	$133,792
Median home value	$696,800	$458,800
Median gross rent	$2,031	$1,925
Housing units	80,570	53,864
Homeownership rate	42.0%	80.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	65.8%	43.3%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alexandria city	Stafford County
Population	157,613 → 156,788 (-0.5%)	146,773 → 160,520 (+9.4%)
Median household income	$100,939 → $113,638 (+12.6%)	$111,108 → $133,792 (+20.4%)
Median home value	$572,900 → $696,800 (+21.6%)	$346,100 → $458,800 (+32.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,747 → $2,031 (+16.3%)	$1,546 → $1,925 (+24.5%)

Alexandria city

Population

157,613156,788

Median household income

$100,939$113,638

Median home value

$572,900$696,800

Median gross rent

$1,747$2,031

Stafford County

Population

146,773160,520

Median household income

$111,108$133,792

Median home value

$346,100$458,800

Median gross rent

$1,546$1,925

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alexandria city	Stafford County
Under 5	6.7%	6.1%
5 to 17	11.6%	20.1%
18 to 24	5.8%	9.3%
25 to 34	20.0%	12.7%
35 to 44	18.7%	14.8%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.9%
55 to 64	11.1%	12.1%
65 to 74	7.7%	7.1%
75 and over	4.9%	4.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alexandria city	Stafford County
White (non-Hispanic)	49.6%	53.7%
Black or African American	20.7%	18.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	6.2%	3.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.9%
Two or more races	4.7%	6.8%
Hispanic or Latino	18.2%	15.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alexandria city	Stafford County
No high school diploma	7.1%	7.2%
High school graduate	10.6%	21.5%
Some college or associate's	16.5%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	31.4%	25.2%
Graduate or professional degree	34.4%	18.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alexandria city	Stafford County
Drove alone	50.2%	66.0%
Carpooled	6.6%	10.9%
Public transit	12.7%	2.5%
Walked	2.5%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	25.2%	18.1%
Other means	2.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alexandria city	Stafford County
1-unit, detached	14.0%	75.0%
1-unit, attached	20.5%	14.0%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	0.8%
5 to 19 units	18.5%	5.3%
20 or more units	42.4%	2.4%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	2.5%

Poverty & households

	Alexandria city	Stafford County
Poverty rate	8.4%	5.1%
Average household size	2.06	3.06
Mean commute (minutes)	29	38
Median year structure built	1974	1997