Roanoke County vs Suffolk city

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

Roanoke County 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 County has the higher population (96,793 vs 96,638 in Suffolk city). Suffolk city has the higher median household income ($90,089 vs $82,931 in Roanoke County). Suffolk city has the higher median home value ($329,600 vs $267,300 in Roanoke County).

Population, income & housing

	Roanoke County	Suffolk city
Population	96,793	96,638
Median age	43.7 yrs	38.7 yrs
Median household income	$82,931	$90,089
Median home value	$267,300	$329,600
Median gross rent	$1,148	$1,484
Housing units	42,251	39,651
Homeownership rate	76.3%	70.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.4%	32.4%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Roanoke County	Suffolk city
Population	93,823 → 96,793 (+3.2%)	90,093 → 96,638 (+7.3%)
Median household income	$68,948 → $82,931 (+20.3%)	$74,884 → $90,089 (+20.3%)
Median home value	$199,800 → $267,300 (+33.8%)	$254,400 → $329,600 (+29.6%)
Median gross rent	$956 → $1,148 (+20.1%)	$1,201 → $1,484 (+23.6%)

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

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 County	Suffolk city
Under 5	4.5%	6.3%
5 to 17	15.4%	17.4%
18 to 24	7.4%	7.9%
25 to 34	11.7%	13.4%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.8%
45 to 54	12.8%	12.7%
55 to 64	13.8%	13.6%
65 to 74	12.5%	9.1%
75 and over	9.3%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Roanoke County	Suffolk city
White (non-Hispanic)	83.1%	46.5%
Black or African American	6.4%	41.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.6%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.7%
Two or more races	2.6%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	3.8%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Roanoke County	Suffolk city
No high school diploma	6.2%	8.2%
High school graduate	28.5%	26.1%
Some college or associate's	27.9%	33.3%
Bachelor's degree	24.2%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	13.2%	12.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Roanoke County	Suffolk city
Drove alone	78.2%	81.4%
Carpooled	5.5%	6.5%
Public transit	0.3%	0.2%
Walked	0.9%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	14.1%	9.3%
Other means	1.0%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Roanoke County	Suffolk city
1-unit, detached	75.0%	73.6%
1-unit, attached	5.2%	6.3%
2 to 4 units	2.6%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	10.2%	8.4%
20 or more units	5.1%	4.4%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Roanoke County	Suffolk city
Poverty rate	7.3%	9.9%
Average household size	2.41	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	22	30
Median year structure built	1978	1994