Roanoke city vs Suffolk city

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

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

Roanoke city has the higher population (98,677 vs 96,638 in Suffolk city). Suffolk city has the higher median household income ($90,089 vs $52,671 in Roanoke city). Suffolk city has the higher median home value ($329,600 vs $180,500 in Roanoke city).

Population, income & housing

	Roanoke city	Suffolk city
Population	98,677	96,638
Median age	38.0 yrs	38.7 yrs
Median household income	$52,671	$90,089
Median home value	$180,500	$329,600
Median gross rent	$964	$1,484
Housing units	48,931	39,651
Homeownership rate	51.7%	70.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.9%	32.4%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Roanoke city	Suffolk city
Population	99,229 → 98,677 (-0.6%)	90,093 → 96,638 (+7.3%)
Median household income	$44,230 → $52,671 (+19.1%)	$74,884 → $90,089 (+20.3%)
Median home value	$135,100 → $180,500 (+33.6%)	$254,400 → $329,600 (+29.6%)
Median gross rent	$814 → $964 (+18.4%)	$1,201 → $1,484 (+23.6%)

Roanoke city

Population

99,22998,677

Median household income

$44,230$52,671

Median home value

$135,100$180,500

Median gross rent

$814$964

Suffolk city

Population

90,09396,638

Median household income

$74,884$90,089

Median home value

$254,400$329,600

Median gross rent

$1,201$1,484

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Roanoke city	Suffolk city
Under 5	6.4%	6.3%
5 to 17	16.2%	17.4%
18 to 24	7.4%	7.9%
25 to 34	15.1%	13.4%
35 to 44	12.8%	13.8%
45 to 54	12.0%	12.7%
55 to 64	12.6%	13.6%
65 to 74	10.5%	9.1%
75 and over	7.0%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Roanoke city	Suffolk city
White (non-Hispanic)	55.5%	46.5%
Black or African American	28.5%	41.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.1%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.7%
Two or more races	3.7%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	8.6%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Roanoke city	Suffolk city
No high school diploma	10.4%	8.2%
High school graduate	33.9%	26.1%
Some college or associate's	26.8%	33.3%
Bachelor's degree	17.6%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	11.3%	12.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Roanoke city	Suffolk city
Drove alone	76.2%	81.4%
Carpooled	7.3%	6.5%
Public transit	2.4%	0.2%
Walked	1.4%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	10.7%	9.3%
Other means	1.7%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Roanoke city	Suffolk city
1-unit, detached	61.1%	73.6%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	6.3%
2 to 4 units	12.1%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	14.6%	8.4%
20 or more units	7.5%	4.4%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Roanoke city	Suffolk city
Poverty rate	19.7%	9.9%
Average household size	2.23	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	20	30
Median year structure built	1959	1994