Bristol city, VA

County Profile

16,849 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Bristol city, VA.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

61out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 46% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1045th of 1,255 counties37
Growth971st of 1,226 counties34
Housing affordability720th of 1,255 counties90
ClimateTop 22% of 1,254 counties75
Physical resilienceTop 28% of 1,255 counties76
AccessTop 28% of 1,255 counties90
Economic stability1118th of 1,255 counties32
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 4.3% and the Opportunity signal places Bristol city in the bottom 17%.

Rent takes 19% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.7 times that income.

A major airport is 17 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
16,849
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$50,404
Bottom 15% nationally
Density
1,309/sq mi
12.9 sq mi of land
Median age
43.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Bristol city
Virginia
Metro area
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA
Nearest major airport
TRI
17 mi · Tri-Cities
Median home value
$184,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.3% is lower than 46% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 0.8% over the past year, to 7,020 employed residents.

Median household income of $50,404 is below 85% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,694$50,404Bottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,427$31,284Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate18.0%Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute19.2 minBottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher24.8%Top 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment7,020Bottom 1%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.2%Bottom 13%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 47%June 2026
Labor force7,332Bottom 1%June 2026
Labor force participation55.7%Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.5%Top 27%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.3%Top 46%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.02.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.3% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202450k44k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $50,404 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers4,170$26,890
Retail Salespersons3,620$31,200
Cashiers3,090$27,420
Stockers and Order Fillers2,910$35,760
Registered Nurses2,660$76,730
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand2,610$35,300

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There are 10.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
10.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Virginia HighBristol City Public Schools63811.8
Virginia MiddleBristol City Public Schools4529.062%72%
Highlands Juvenile Detention HomeDepartment of Education State-Operated Educ Prgms0
Crossroads Alternative/Bristol CityCrossroads Alternative/Bristol City0

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Virginia’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $801 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.7 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$801
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$184,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.65Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate63.6%Bottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±438,641Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$73$801Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,292$184,100Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.1%Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate16.4%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
34/ 100
Ranks 971 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 6% since 2020, reaching 16,316 in 2024.

At 0.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
10
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.6
Bottom 7% nationally
Year over year
+100%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
50.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202417k16k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2022202320242025151.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+600%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 26°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 44.0 inches, including 9.2 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BRISTOL TRI CITY AP, 16.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation44.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall9.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low26°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing39°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

76 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 91% of measured US locations.

EarthquakeElevated

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, strong wind, lightning, hurricane, cold wave, inland flooding, winter weather, tornado, ice storm, hail, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Bristol city records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 18.8 per 100,000 residents in Bristol city.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
18.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Bristol city as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Bristol city rather than Bristol city itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 17 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Tri-CitiesTRI17 mi8,000 ft
Asheville RgnlAVL84 mi8,002 ft
Mc Ghee TysonTYS117 mi10,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
61
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Bristol city, VA