Harrisonburg city, VA

County Profile

51,392 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Harrisonburg 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.

52out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 14% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity898th of 1,255 counties measured44
Schools822nd of 973 counties measured23
Growth846th of 1,226 counties measured40
Housing affordability1084th of 1,255 counties measured69
Climate726th of 1,254 counties measured65
Physical resilienceTop 34% of 1,255 counties measured72
Access1178th of 1,255 counties measured43
Economic stability902nd of 1,255 counties measured47
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 4.9% and the Opportunity signal places Harrisonburg city in the bottom 28%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 153 units authorized over the past twelve months, 15% below the prior year.

Housing sits below most published city profiles for affordability: rent takes 23% of median household income and the median home is 4.8 times it — each just short of the thresholds that would count as strained, but both toward the costly end.

At a glance

Population
51,392
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$62,254
Bottom 42% nationally
Density
2,964/sq mi
17.3 sq mi of land
Median age
25.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Harrisonburg city
Virginia
Metro area
Harrisonburg, VA
Nearest major airport
IAD
84 mi · Washington Dulles Intl
Median home value
$299,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 25% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 0.2% over the past year, to 24,492 employed residents.

37% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 89% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,131$62,254Bottom 42%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,566$28,857Bottom 19%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate25.7%Top 6%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute19.1 minBottom 11%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher37.5%Top 11%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment24,492Bottom 32%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.9%Bottom 15%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.2%Top 36%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force25,745Bottom 32%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation61.9%Top 33%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.7%Top 18%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 25%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.92.4
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.9% 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
202120222023202462k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $62,254 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 — Harrisonburg, VA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,590$29,240
Retail Salespersons1,980$33,350
Stockers and Order Fillers1,650$38,130
Cashiers1,460$28,980
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners1,420$34,180
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand1,390$38,320

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.

39% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 48% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
38.7%
Bottom 17% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
47.8%
Bottom 2% in Virginia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Harrisonburg HighHarrisonburg City Public Schools99812.8
Thomas Harrison MiddleHarrisonburg City Public Schools77113.557%67%
Skyline MiddleHarrisonburg City Public Schools73812.762%45%
Bluestone ElementaryHarrisonburg City Public Schools56614.524%41%
Waterman ElementaryHarrisonburg City Public Schools55714.733%46%
Stone Spring ElementaryHarrisonburg City Public Schools55415.049%62%
Smithland ElementaryHarrisonburg City Public Schools51413.219%38%
Keister ElementaryHarrisonburg City Public Schools47514.828%40%
Spotswood ElementaryHarrisonburg City Public Schools46814.216%26%
Pleasant Valley ElementaryRockingham County Public Schools28214.142%58%
Harrisonburg H.S. Governor's STEM AcademyHarrisonburg City Public Schools0
Massanutten Tech CtrMassanutten Technical Center0

87.4% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

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 $1,184 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
22.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,184
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$299,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.80Top 11%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate39.5%Bottom 1%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±7018,667Top 38%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$52$1,184Top 18%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,261$299,100Top 20%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.8%Top 9%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.0%Bottom 14%of 3,2222024 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
40/ 100
Ranks 846 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 4 consecutive years, measured from 2020 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 1% since 2020, reaching 51,164 in 2024.

Permit activity has risen for 4 consecutive years.

67% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 3.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
153
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.0
Top 49% nationally
Year over year
−15%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
66.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202452k51k
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
20202021202220232024202520536
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+242%).

Weather & climate

5 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 23°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 39.0 inches, including 19.4 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DALE ENTERPRISE, 3.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation39.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall19.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low23°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing42°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

72 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and cold wave.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 73% of measured US locations.

HurricaneModerate
EarthquakeModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, lightning, inland flooding, heat wave, hail, landslide, ice storm, tornado, 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 — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Harrisonburg 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 8.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 6.7 per 100,000 residents in Harrisonburg city.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
8.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
6.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.1
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 Harrisonburg 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 Harrisonburg city rather than Harrisonburg 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 84 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Washington Dulles IntlIAD84 mi11,500 ft
Richmond IntlRIC106 mi9,003 ft
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI129 mi10,503 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
52
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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
2019-20 school year; 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 Harrisonburg city, VA