Halifax County vs Wise County

A side-by-side comparison of Halifax County and Wise County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wise County has the higher population (35,727 vs 33,811 in Halifax County). Wise County has the higher median household income ($50,740 vs $49,244 in Halifax County). Halifax County has the higher median home value ($148,900 vs $116,500 in Wise County).

Population, income & housing

	Halifax County	Wise County
Population	33,811	35,727
Median age	46.7 yrs	42.1 yrs
Median household income	$49,244	$50,740
Median home value	$148,900	$116,500
Median gross rent	$769	$770
Housing units	17,382	16,659
Homeownership rate	70.6%	74.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	15.6%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	8.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Halifax County	Wise County
Population	34,552 → 33,811 (-2.1%)	38,486 → 35,727 (-7.2%)
Median household income	$42,669 → $49,244 (+15.4%)	$38,888 → $50,740 (+30.5%)
Median home value	$116,100 → $148,900 (+28.3%)	$85,500 → $116,500 (+36.3%)
Median gross rent	$671 → $769 (+14.6%)	$632 → $770 (+21.8%)

Halifax County

Population

34,55233,811

Median household income

$42,669$49,244

Median home value

$116,100$148,900

Median gross rent

$671$769

Wise County

Population

38,48635,727

Median household income

$38,888$50,740

Median home value

$85,500$116,500

Median gross rent

$632$770

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Halifax County	Wise County
Under 5	5.2%	4.6%
5 to 17	15.1%	14.6%
18 to 24	7.2%	8.5%
25 to 34	11.3%	13.3%
35 to 44	9.6%	12.5%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.1%
55 to 64	14.8%	13.4%
65 to 74	14.3%	13.0%
75 and over	11.0%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Halifax County	Wise County
White (non-Hispanic)	59.5%	90.5%
Black or African American	34.7%	5.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.7%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	2.5%	1.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Halifax County	Wise County
No high school diploma	18.4%	19.7%
High school graduate	35.0%	34.1%
Some college or associate's	28.4%	30.6%
Bachelor's degree	11.9%	9.8%
Graduate or professional degree	6.3%	5.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Halifax County	Wise County
Drove alone	78.9%	79.8%
Carpooled	10.7%	8.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	0.9%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.4%	8.7%
Other means	2.8%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Halifax County	Wise County
1-unit, detached	72.1%	64.8%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	2.9%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	3.2%
20 or more units	1.2%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	19.7%	27.0%

Poverty & households

	Halifax County	Wise County
Poverty rate	17.9%	17.7%
Average household size	2.40	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	25	24
Median year structure built	1974	1979