Mathews County vs Rappahannock County

A side-by-side comparison of Mathews County and Rappahannock County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mathews County has the higher population (8,517 vs 7,409 in Rappahannock County). Rappahannock County has the higher median household income ($98,125 vs $75,487 in Mathews County). Rappahannock County has the higher median home value ($490,200 vs $348,800 in Mathews County).

Population, income & housing

	Mathews County	Rappahannock County
Population	8,517	7,409
Median age	53.8 yrs	50.1 yrs
Median household income	$75,487	$98,125
Median home value	$348,800	$490,200
Median gross rent	$1,108	$1,384
Housing units	5,486	3,848
Homeownership rate	85.6%	77.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.1%	35.6%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	7.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mathews County	Rappahannock County
Population	8,788 → 8,517 (-3.1%)	7,378 → 7,409 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$64,237 → $75,487 (+17.5%)	$74,284 → $98,125 (+32.1%)
Median home value	$226,300 → $348,800 (+54.1%)	$377,700 → $490,200 (+29.8%)
Median gross rent	$922 → $1,108 (+20.2%)	$1,055 → $1,384 (+31.2%)

Mathews County

Population

8,7888,517

Median household income

$64,237$75,487

Median home value

$226,300$348,800

Median gross rent

$922$1,108

Rappahannock County

Population

7,3787,409

Median household income

$74,284$98,125

Median home value

$377,700$490,200

Median gross rent

$1,055$1,384

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mathews County	Rappahannock County
Under 5	3.3%	3.1%
5 to 17	12.3%	14.5%
18 to 24	7.6%	5.7%
25 to 34	6.6%	10.6%
35 to 44	8.7%	11.1%
45 to 54	12.7%	10.8%
55 to 64	16.5%	17.5%
65 to 74	17.2%	15.2%
75 and over	15.1%	11.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mathews County	Rappahannock County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.7%	85.7%
Black or African American	8.4%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	0.0%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	1.8%
Two or more races	3.4%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.6%	4.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mathews County	Rappahannock County
No high school diploma	8.7%	8.2%
High school graduate	30.6%	29.5%
Some college or associate's	30.6%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	20.5%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	15.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mathews County	Rappahannock County
Drove alone	74.9%	69.0%
Carpooled	6.0%	5.6%
Public transit	0.8%	0.7%
Walked	2.6%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	15.2%	19.5%
Other means	0.6%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mathews County	Rappahannock County
1-unit, detached	93.1%	96.3%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.2%
2 to 4 units	1.1%	1.4%
5 to 19 units	1.6%	2.2%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.8%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Mathews County	Rappahannock County
Poverty rate	7.9%	9.5%
Average household size	2.22	2.59
Mean commute (minutes)	34	36
Median year structure built	1973	1981