Bristol city vs Southampton County

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

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

Southampton County has the higher population (17,988 vs 17,024 in Bristol city). Southampton County has the higher median household income ($68,465 vs $44,706 in Bristol city). Southampton County has the higher median home value ($208,800 vs $168,700 in Bristol city).

Population, income & housing

	Bristol city	Southampton County
Population	17,024	17,988
Median age	42.6 yrs	46.9 yrs
Median household income	$44,706	$68,465
Median home value	$168,700	$208,800
Median gross rent	$775	$930
Housing units	8,654	7,774
Homeownership rate	63.1%	74.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.9%	18.6%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bristol city	Southampton County
Population	16,912 → 17,024 (+0.7%)	17,880 → 17,988 (+0.6%)
Median household income	$37,500 → $44,706 (+19.2%)	$61,348 → $68,465 (+11.6%)
Median home value	$111,700 → $168,700 (+51.0%)	$178,500 → $208,800 (+17.0%)
Median gross rent	$687 → $775 (+12.8%)	$829 → $930 (+12.2%)

Bristol city

Population

16,91217,024

Median household income

$37,500$44,706

Median home value

$111,700$168,700

Median gross rent

$687$775

Southampton County

Population

17,88017,988

Median household income

$61,348$68,465

Median home value

$178,500$208,800

Median gross rent

$829$930

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bristol city	Southampton County
Under 5	5.2%	4.6%
5 to 17	15.0%	14.6%
18 to 24	8.0%	6.9%
25 to 34	10.9%	9.7%
35 to 44	13.0%	11.3%
45 to 54	12.1%	14.9%
55 to 64	12.7%	16.6%
65 to 74	12.5%	12.8%
75 and over	10.6%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bristol city	Southampton County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.3%	60.4%
Black or African American	6.7%	29.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.3%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.3%	6.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bristol city	Southampton County
No high school diploma	10.4%	13.3%
High school graduate	34.7%	35.1%
Some college or associate's	30.9%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	14.1%	12.2%
Graduate or professional degree	9.8%	6.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bristol city	Southampton County
Drove alone	79.1%	78.3%
Carpooled	5.0%	12.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	4.0%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.2%	5.0%
Other means	0.6%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bristol city	Southampton County
1-unit, detached	65.4%	78.4%
1-unit, attached	5.1%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	8.3%	2.5%
5 to 19 units	15.0%	1.9%
20 or more units	5.3%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	16.6%

Poverty & households

	Bristol city	Southampton County
Poverty rate	18.3%	8.7%
Average household size	2.28	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	18	34
Median year structure built	1966	1980