Emporia city vs Surry County

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

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

Surry County has the higher population (6,552 vs 5,633 in Emporia city). Surry County has the higher median household income ($71,458 vs $49,375 in Emporia city). Surry County has the higher median home value ($235,200 vs $131,100 in Emporia city).

Population, income & housing

	Emporia city	Surry County
Population	5,633	6,552
Median age	39.5 yrs	50.7 yrs
Median household income	$49,375	$71,458
Median home value	$131,100	$235,200
Median gross rent	$1,060	$858
Housing units	2,824	3,438
Homeownership rate	38.4%	80.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.2%	25.4%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Emporia city	Surry County
Population	5,442 → 5,633 (+3.5%)	6,523 → 6,552 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$27,063 → $49,375 (+82.4%)	$57,962 → $71,458 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$116,800 → $131,100 (+12.2%)	$197,800 → $235,200 (+18.9%)
Median gross rent	$694 → $1,060 (+52.7%)	$903 → $858 (-5.0%)

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

Surry County

Population

6,5236,552

Median household income

$57,962$71,458

Median home value

$197,800$235,200

Median gross rent

$903$858

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Emporia city	Surry County
Under 5	5.2%	5.1%
5 to 17	21.8%	11.9%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.9%
25 to 34	9.9%	8.3%
35 to 44	12.2%	10.6%
45 to 54	12.2%	12.2%
55 to 64	11.9%	19.3%
65 to 74	9.1%	15.2%
75 and over	9.3%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Emporia city	Surry County
White (non-Hispanic)	19.6%	54.4%
Black or African American	63.6%	41.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.9%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	8.4%	2.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Emporia city	Surry County
No high school diploma	24.3%	10.0%
High school graduate	37.7%	31.0%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	33.6%
Bachelor's degree	8.4%	18.3%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	7.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Emporia city	Surry County
Drove alone	79.3%	76.5%
Carpooled	10.5%	14.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.6%
Walked	2.8%	0.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.0%	6.5%
Other means	1.2%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Emporia city	Surry County
1-unit, detached	76.8%	80.9%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	12.4%	1.2%
5 to 19 units	6.4%	3.4%
20 or more units	0.6%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	14.0%

Poverty & households

	Emporia city	Surry County
Poverty rate	13.5%	11.6%
Average household size	2.44	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	24	43
Median year structure built	1963	1982