Buchanan County vs Scott County

A side-by-side comparison of Buchanan County and Scott County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Scott County has the higher population (21,504 vs 19,857 in Buchanan County). Scott County has the higher median household income ($45,136 vs $42,216 in Buchanan County). Scott County has the higher median home value ($122,300 vs $91,400 in Buchanan County).

Population, income & housing

	Buchanan County	Scott County
Population	19,857	21,504
Median age	47.3 yrs	47.6 yrs
Median household income	$42,216	$45,136
Median home value	$91,400	$122,300
Median gross rent	$712	$665
Housing units	10,340	11,776
Homeownership rate	82.1%	78.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.8%	14.2%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buchanan County	Scott County
Population	21,788 → 19,857 (-8.9%)	21,902 → 21,504 (-1.8%)
Median household income	$31,956 → $42,216 (+32.1%)	$39,820 → $45,136 (+13.4%)
Median home value	$72,300 → $91,400 (+26.4%)	$94,800 → $122,300 (+29.0%)
Median gross rent	$617 → $712 (+15.4%)	$563 → $665 (+18.1%)

Buchanan County

Population

21,78819,857

Median household income

$31,956$42,216

Median home value

$72,300$91,400

Median gross rent

$617$712

Scott County

Population

21,90221,504

Median household income

$39,820$45,136

Median home value

$94,800$122,300

Median gross rent

$563$665

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buchanan County	Scott County
Under 5	4.3%	3.9%
5 to 17	12.8%	14.1%
18 to 24	6.5%	6.9%
25 to 34	11.4%	10.8%
35 to 44	12.0%	11.2%
45 to 54	13.9%	12.9%
55 to 64	15.6%	15.2%
65 to 74	13.5%	14.0%
75 and over	10.0%	11.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buchanan County	Scott County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.7%	95.9%
Black or African American	2.4%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	0.7%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.0%	1.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buchanan County	Scott County
No high school diploma	22.5%	16.0%
High school graduate	42.6%	37.0%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	32.7%
Bachelor's degree	5.5%	9.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	4.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buchanan County	Scott County
Drove alone	83.2%	87.1%
Carpooled	8.2%	6.8%
Public transit	0.7%	0.5%
Walked	1.5%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.5%	4.5%
Other means	1.9%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buchanan County	Scott County
1-unit, detached	63.1%	75.5%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	0.7%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	1.8%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	32.0%	19.9%

Poverty & households

	Buchanan County	Scott County
Poverty rate	23.9%	18.0%
Average household size	2.55	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	30	30
Median year structure built	1979	1974