Grayson County vs Nelson County

A side-by-side comparison of Grayson County and Nelson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Grayson County has the higher population (15,323 vs 14,777 in Nelson County). Nelson County has the higher median household income ($68,525 vs $42,864 in Grayson County). Nelson County has the higher median home value ($283,000 vs $132,300 in Grayson County).

Population, income & housing

	Grayson County	Nelson County
Population	15,323	14,777
Median age	48.5 yrs	51.3 yrs
Median household income	$42,864	$68,525
Median home value	$132,300	$283,000
Median gross rent	$712	$950
Housing units	8,961	9,947
Homeownership rate	81.9%	79.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.9%	33.7%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Grayson County	Nelson County
Population	15,742 → 15,323 (-2.7%)	14,831 → 14,777 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$36,544 → $42,864 (+17.3%)	$64,313 → $68,525 (+6.5%)
Median home value	$102,900 → $132,300 (+28.6%)	$235,000 → $283,000 (+20.4%)
Median gross rent	$520 → $712 (+36.9%)	$759 → $950 (+25.2%)

Grayson County

Population

15,74215,323

Median household income

$36,544$42,864

Median home value

$102,900$132,300

Median gross rent

$520$712

Nelson County

Population

14,83114,777

Median household income

$64,313$68,525

Median home value

$235,000$283,000

Median gross rent

$759$950

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Grayson County	Nelson County
Under 5	3.9%	5.5%
5 to 17	12.6%	12.2%
18 to 24	7.1%	7.0%
25 to 34	11.3%	9.4%
35 to 44	10.3%	9.5%
45 to 54	13.6%	10.8%
55 to 64	15.7%	16.4%
65 to 74	15.1%	18.4%
75 and over	10.5%	10.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Grayson County	Nelson County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.0%	79.9%
Black or African American	5.2%	10.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	1.1%	1.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.4%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.1%	4.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Grayson County	Nelson County
No high school diploma	15.7%	11.3%
High school graduate	40.8%	30.2%
Some college or associate's	29.5%	24.8%
Bachelor's degree	9.4%	22.1%
Graduate or professional degree	4.5%	11.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Grayson County	Nelson County
Drove alone	81.3%	63.6%
Carpooled	9.9%	9.6%
Public transit	1.0%	0.2%
Walked	0.9%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	5.2%	22.7%
Other means	1.8%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Grayson County	Nelson County
1-unit, detached	77.5%	77.8%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	1.5%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	9.3%
20 or more units	0.5%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	18.7%	9.5%

Poverty & households

	Grayson County	Nelson County
Poverty rate	18.0%	14.4%
Average household size	2.31	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	25	30
Median year structure built	1975	1987