Norfolk city vs Stafford County

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

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

Norfolk city has the higher population (235,037 vs 160,520 in Stafford County). Stafford County has the higher median household income ($133,792 vs $64,017 in Norfolk city). Stafford County has the higher median home value ($458,800 vs $271,900 in Norfolk city).

Population, income & housing

	Norfolk city	Stafford County
Population	235,037	160,520
Median age	32.4 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$64,017	$133,792
Median home value	$271,900	$458,800
Median gross rent	$1,246	$1,925
Housing units	102,542	53,864
Homeownership rate	45.7%	80.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.7%	43.3%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Norfolk city	Stafford County
Population	244,601 → 235,037 (-3.9%)	146,773 → 160,520 (+9.4%)
Median household income	$51,590 → $64,017 (+24.1%)	$111,108 → $133,792 (+20.4%)
Median home value	$206,700 → $271,900 (+31.5%)	$346,100 → $458,800 (+32.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,059 → $1,246 (+17.7%)	$1,546 → $1,925 (+24.5%)

Norfolk city

Population

244,601235,037

Median household income

$51,590$64,017

Median home value

$206,700$271,900

Median gross rent

$1,059$1,246

Stafford County

Population

146,773160,520

Median household income

$111,108$133,792

Median home value

$346,100$458,800

Median gross rent

$1,546$1,925

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Norfolk city	Stafford County
Under 5	6.5%	6.1%
5 to 17	13.9%	20.1%
18 to 24	14.9%	9.3%
25 to 34	18.9%	12.7%
35 to 44	12.5%	14.8%
45 to 54	9.6%	13.9%
55 to 64	11.1%	12.1%
65 to 74	7.9%	7.1%
75 and over	4.7%	4.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Norfolk city	Stafford County
White (non-Hispanic)	41.5%	53.7%
Black or African American	39.0%	18.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	3.6%	3.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.9%
Two or more races	5.1%	6.8%
Hispanic or Latino	9.9%	15.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Norfolk city	Stafford County
No high school diploma	10.4%	7.2%
High school graduate	24.9%	21.5%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	19.3%	25.2%
Graduate or professional degree	13.4%	18.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Norfolk city	Stafford County
Drove alone	71.7%	66.0%
Carpooled	9.4%	10.9%
Public transit	2.8%	2.5%
Walked	5.2%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.6%	18.1%
Other means	1.8%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Norfolk city	Stafford County
1-unit, detached	48.8%	75.0%
1-unit, attached	7.8%	14.0%
2 to 4 units	13.6%	0.8%
5 to 19 units	16.5%	5.3%
20 or more units	12.6%	2.4%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	2.5%

Poverty & households

	Norfolk city	Stafford County
Poverty rate	17.3%	5.1%
Average household size	2.27	3.06
Mean commute (minutes)	23	38
Median year structure built	1964	1997