Buchanan County vs Westmoreland County

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

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

Buchanan County has the higher population (19,857 vs 18,683 in Westmoreland County). Westmoreland County has the higher median household income ($59,766 vs $42,216 in Buchanan County). Westmoreland County has the higher median home value ($244,000 vs $91,400 in Buchanan County).

Population, income & housing

	Buchanan County	Westmoreland County
Population	19,857	18,683
Median age	47.3 yrs	48.0 yrs
Median household income	$42,216	$59,766
Median home value	$91,400	$244,000
Median gross rent	$712	$991
Housing units	10,340	11,300
Homeownership rate	82.1%	79.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.8%	19.7%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	7.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buchanan County	Westmoreland County
Population	21,788 → 19,857 (-8.9%)	17,751 → 18,683 (+5.3%)
Median household income	$31,956 → $42,216 (+32.1%)	$53,853 → $59,766 (+11.0%)
Median home value	$72,300 → $91,400 (+26.4%)	$199,100 → $244,000 (+22.6%)
Median gross rent	$617 → $712 (+15.4%)	$948 → $991 (+4.5%)

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

Westmoreland County

Population

17,75118,683

Median household income

$53,853$59,766

Median home value

$199,100$244,000

Median gross rent

$948$991

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buchanan County	Westmoreland County
Under 5	4.3%	5.0%
5 to 17	12.8%	13.2%
18 to 24	6.5%	5.9%
25 to 34	11.4%	12.4%
35 to 44	12.0%	8.8%
45 to 54	13.9%	11.8%
55 to 64	15.6%	16.5%
65 to 74	13.5%	15.3%
75 and over	10.0%	11.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buchanan County	Westmoreland County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.7%	62.6%
Black or African American	2.4%	23.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.7%
Two or more races	0.7%	5.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.0%	6.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buchanan County	Westmoreland County
No high school diploma	22.5%	15.9%
High school graduate	42.6%	40.4%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	5.5%	11.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	8.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buchanan County	Westmoreland County
Drove alone	83.2%	76.8%
Carpooled	8.2%	8.5%
Public transit	0.7%	0.6%
Walked	1.5%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.8%
Worked from home	4.5%	12.1%
Other means	1.9%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buchanan County	Westmoreland County
1-unit, detached	63.1%	87.3%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	1.1%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	1.7%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	32.0%	7.9%

Poverty & households

	Buchanan County	Westmoreland County
Poverty rate	23.9%	13.8%
Average household size	2.55	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	30	42
Median year structure built	1979	1983