Emporia city vs Highland County

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

Emporia 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.

Emporia city has the higher population (5,633 vs 2,265 in Highland County). Highland County has the higher median household income ($62,946 vs $49,375 in Emporia city). Highland County has the higher median home value ($195,700 vs $131,100 in Emporia city).

Population, income & housing

	Emporia city	Highland County
Population	5,633	2,265
Median age	39.5 yrs	57.1 yrs
Median household income	$49,375	$62,946
Median home value	$131,100	$195,700
Median gross rent	$1,060	$859
Housing units	2,824	1,839
Homeownership rate	38.4%	88.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.2%	35.5%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	16.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Emporia city	Highland County
Population	5,442 → 5,633 (+3.5%)	2,204 → 2,265 (+2.8%)
Median household income	$27,063 → $49,375 (+82.4%)	$48,587 → $62,946 (+29.6%)
Median home value	$116,800 → $131,100 (+12.2%)	$173,900 → $195,700 (+12.5%)
Median gross rent	$694 → $1,060 (+52.7%)	$618 → $859 (+39.0%)

Emporia city

Population

5,4425,633

Median household income

$27,063$49,375

Median home value

$116,800$131,100

Median gross rent

$694$1,060

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)

	Emporia city	Highland County
Under 5	5.2%	2.6%
5 to 17	21.8%	11.2%
18 to 24	8.3%	10.5%
25 to 34	9.9%	7.6%
35 to 44	12.2%	7.0%
45 to 54	12.2%	9.1%
55 to 64	11.9%	17.7%
65 to 74	9.1%	18.7%
75 and over	9.3%	15.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Emporia city	Highland County
White (non-Hispanic)	19.6%	94.4%
Black or African American	63.6%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	3.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.9%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	8.4%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Emporia city	Highland County
No high school diploma	24.3%	10.7%
High school graduate	37.7%	34.5%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	19.3%
Bachelor's degree	8.4%	22.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Emporia city	Highland County
Drove alone	79.3%	71.8%
Carpooled	10.5%	1.7%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	2.8%	3.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.0%	22.5%
Other means	1.2%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Emporia city	Highland County
1-unit, detached	76.8%	79.5%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	12.4%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	6.4%	0.5%
20 or more units	0.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	16.0%

Poverty & households

	Emporia city	Highland County
Poverty rate	13.5%	10.3%
Average household size	2.44	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	24	24
Median year structure built	1963	1972