Covington city vs Highland County

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

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

Covington city has the higher population (5,671 vs 2,265 in Highland County). Highland County has the higher median household income ($62,946 vs $42,724 in Covington city). Highland County has the higher median home value ($195,700 vs $80,200 in Covington city).

Population, income & housing

	Covington city	Highland County
Population	5,671	2,265
Median age	41.5 yrs	57.1 yrs
Median household income	$42,724	$62,946
Median home value	$80,200	$195,700
Median gross rent	$822	$859
Housing units	3,038	1,839
Homeownership rate	71.4%	88.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.6%	35.5%
Unemployment rate	2.4%	16.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Covington city	Highland County
Population	5,598 → 5,671 (+1.3%)	2,204 → 2,265 (+2.8%)
Median household income	$40,655 → $42,724 (+5.1%)	$48,587 → $62,946 (+29.6%)
Median home value	$72,900 → $80,200 (+10.0%)	$173,900 → $195,700 (+12.5%)
Median gross rent	$619 → $822 (+32.8%)	$618 → $859 (+39.0%)

Covington city

Population

5,5985,671

Median household income

$40,655$42,724

Median home value

$72,900$80,200

Median gross rent

$619$822

Highland County

Population

2,2042,265

Median household income

$48,587$62,946

Median home value

$173,900$195,700

Median gross rent

$618$859

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Covington city	Highland County
Under 5	5.9%	2.6%
5 to 17	16.9%	11.2%
18 to 24	9.8%	10.5%
25 to 34	11.4%	7.6%
35 to 44	12.4%	7.0%
45 to 54	9.5%	9.1%
55 to 64	14.6%	17.7%
65 to 74	11.4%	18.7%
75 and over	8.0%	15.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Covington city	Highland County
White (non-Hispanic)	79.6%	94.4%
Black or African American	12.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	3.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.6%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Covington city	Highland County
No high school diploma	12.9%	10.7%
High school graduate	49.5%	34.5%
Some college or associate's	28.0%	19.3%
Bachelor's degree	6.0%	22.2%
Graduate or professional degree	3.6%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Covington city	Highland County
Drove alone	86.0%	71.8%
Carpooled	4.2%	1.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	3.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.6%	22.5%
Other means	0.2%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Covington city	Highland County
1-unit, detached	85.5%	79.5%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	1.0%	0.5%
20 or more units	0.9%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.5%	16.0%

Poverty & households

	Covington city	Highland County
Poverty rate	23.6%	10.3%
Average household size	2.24	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	15	24
Median year structure built	1949	1972