Portsmouth city vs Roanoke County

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

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

Portsmouth city has the higher population (97,299 vs 96,793 in Roanoke County). Roanoke County has the higher median household income ($82,931 vs $58,972 in Portsmouth city). Roanoke County has the higher median home value ($267,300 vs $229,400 in Portsmouth city).

Population, income & housing

	Portsmouth city	Roanoke County
Population	97,299	96,793
Median age	35.8 yrs	43.7 yrs
Median household income	$58,972	$82,931
Median home value	$229,400	$267,300
Median gross rent	$1,266	$1,148
Housing units	43,233	42,251
Homeownership rate	56.9%	76.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.2%	37.4%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Portsmouth city	Roanoke County
Population	95,097 → 97,299 (+2.3%)	93,823 → 96,793 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$52,175 → $58,972 (+13.0%)	$68,948 → $82,931 (+20.3%)
Median home value	$170,900 → $229,400 (+34.2%)	$199,800 → $267,300 (+33.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,048 → $1,266 (+20.8%)	$956 → $1,148 (+20.1%)

Portsmouth city

Population

95,09797,299

Median household income

$52,175$58,972

Median home value

$170,900$229,400

Median gross rent

$1,048$1,266

Roanoke County

Population

93,82396,793

Median household income

$68,948$82,931

Median home value

$199,800$267,300

Median gross rent

$956$1,148

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Portsmouth city	Roanoke County
Under 5	7.1%	4.5%
5 to 17	16.1%	15.4%
18 to 24	9.1%	7.4%
25 to 34	16.6%	11.7%
35 to 44	13.0%	12.6%
45 to 54	10.6%	12.8%
55 to 64	12.3%	13.8%
65 to 74	9.3%	12.5%
75 and over	5.8%	9.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Portsmouth city	Roanoke County
White (non-Hispanic)	35.9%	83.1%
Black or African American	51.2%	6.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.4%	3.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.7%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	3.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Portsmouth city	Roanoke County
No high school diploma	10.8%	6.2%
High school graduate	31.7%	28.5%
Some college or associate's	34.3%	27.9%
Bachelor's degree	14.9%	24.2%
Graduate or professional degree	8.3%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Portsmouth city	Roanoke County
Drove alone	73.1%	78.2%
Carpooled	11.9%	5.5%
Public transit	1.3%	0.3%
Walked	3.1%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.9%	14.1%
Other means	2.5%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Portsmouth city	Roanoke County
1-unit, detached	61.1%	75.0%
1-unit, attached	9.2%	5.2%
2 to 4 units	9.6%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	13.0%	10.2%
20 or more units	6.4%	5.1%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Portsmouth city	Roanoke County
Poverty rate	17.6%	7.3%
Average household size	2.38	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	23	22
Median year structure built	1966	1978