Amherst County vs Powhatan County

A side-by-side comparison of Amherst County and Powhatan County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Amherst County has the higher population (31,385 vs 31,074 in Powhatan County). Powhatan County has the higher median household income ($110,667 vs $67,298 in Amherst County). Powhatan County has the higher median home value ($381,300 vs $197,200 in Amherst County).

Population, income & housing

	Amherst County	Powhatan County
Population	31,385	31,074
Median age	43.3 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$67,298	$110,667
Median home value	$197,200	$381,300
Median gross rent	$842	$1,107
Housing units	14,301	11,841
Homeownership rate	78.4%	93.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.0%	34.2%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Amherst County	Powhatan County
Population	31,775 → 31,385 (-1.2%)	28,815 → 31,074 (+7.8%)
Median household income	$52,888 → $67,298 (+27.2%)	$89,090 → $110,667 (+24.2%)
Median home value	$155,600 → $197,200 (+26.7%)	$279,200 → $381,300 (+36.6%)
Median gross rent	$728 → $842 (+15.7%)	$980 → $1,107 (+13.0%)

Amherst County

Population

31,77531,385

Median household income

$52,888$67,298

Median home value

$155,600$197,200

Median gross rent

$728$842

Powhatan County

Population

28,81531,074

Median household income

$89,090$110,667

Median home value

$279,200$381,300

Median gross rent

$980$1,107

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Amherst County	Powhatan County
Under 5	5.1%	4.4%
5 to 17	14.8%	13.4%
18 to 24	8.9%	6.5%
25 to 34	11.3%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.7%	14.2%
45 to 54	11.7%	14.6%
55 to 64	15.1%	16.2%
65 to 74	12.3%	12.2%
75 and over	9.1%	7.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Amherst County	Powhatan County
White (non-Hispanic)	73.9%	84.8%
Black or African American	17.5%	8.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	1.1%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Amherst County	Powhatan County
No high school diploma	11.4%	8.5%
High school graduate	36.3%	27.4%
Some college or associate's	29.3%	29.9%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	23.1%
Graduate or professional degree	9.1%	11.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Amherst County	Powhatan County
Drove alone	79.1%	74.1%
Carpooled	9.1%	5.4%
Public transit	0.2%	0.3%
Walked	1.4%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.2%	19.4%
Other means	0.8%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Amherst County	Powhatan County
1-unit, detached	78.9%	95.2%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	0.9%
5 to 19 units	1.7%	0.2%
20 or more units	0.5%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	11.7%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Amherst County	Powhatan County
Poverty rate	10.8%	3.3%
Average household size	2.39	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	26	33
Median year structure built	1977	1995