Pittsylvania County, VA

County Profile

59,856 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Pittsylvania County, 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.

60out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 42% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1140th of 1,255 counties30
SchoolsTop 7% of 973 counties85
Growth1100th of 1,226 counties27
Housing affordabilityTop 34% of 1,255 counties97
ClimateTop 20% of 1,254 counties75
Physical resilienceTop 42% of 1,255 counties67
Access1004th of 1,255 counties64
Economic stability1075th of 1,255 counties35
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 4.3% and the Opportunity signal places Pittsylvania County in the bottom 9%.

70 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, essentially level with the prior year — steady rather than turning.

Rent takes 19% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.0 times that income.

At a glance

Population
59,856
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$54,085
Bottom 22% nationally
Density
62/sq mi
969.0 sq mi of land
Median age
48.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Pittsylvania County
Virginia
Metro area
Danville, VA
Nearest major airport
GSO
58 mi · Piedmont Triad Intl
Median home value
$161,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

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

Employment fell 1.1% over the past year, to 26,613 employed residents.

Median household income of $54,085 is below 78% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,331$54,085Bottom 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$905$30,435Bottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.6%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.8 minTop 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher16.1%Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment26,613Bottom 35%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.2%Bottom 13%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.1%Bottom 38%June 2026
Labor force27,796Bottom 34%June 2026
Labor force participation51.7%Bottom 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.2%Top 40%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.3%Top 46%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.32.8
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
202120222023202454k49k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $54,085 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.

65% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 78% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.1 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
22
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
64.8%
Top 20% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
77.7%
Top 7% in Virginia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Tunstall HighPittsylvania County Public Schools80014.5
Twin Springs ElementaryPittsylvania County Public Schools61815.170%83%
Tunstall MiddlePittsylvania County Public Schools60914.962%82%
Chatham HighPittsylvania County Public Schools60916.5
Dan River HighPittsylvania County Public Schools58314.2
Gretna HighPittsylvania County Public Schools50712.7
Gretna ElementaryPittsylvania County Public Schools49313.770%80%
Kentuck ElementaryPittsylvania County Public Schools47814.169%74%
Stony Mill ElementaryPittsylvania County Public Schools44014.276%81%
Dan River MiddlePittsylvania County Public Schools43810.767%82%
Southside ElementaryPittsylvania County Public Schools42813.071%77%
Chatham MiddlePittsylvania County Public Schools40611.352%77%

85.3% 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 $861 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.0 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
19.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$861
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$161,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.98Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate78.7%Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5229,443Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$42$861Bottom 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,768$161,400Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.1%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate15.0%Top 47%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
27/ 100
Ranks 1100 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, 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 2% since 2020, reaching 59,410 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
70
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.2
Bottom 19% nationally
Year over year
0%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202460k59k
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
20222023202420257469
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was close to 2022 (−3%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 28°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.7 inches, including 7.6 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 DANVILLE RGNL AP, 17.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.7"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall7.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low28°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°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

67 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HurricaneModerate
DroughtModerate
LandslideModerate
LightningModerate
Strong windModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, winter weather, earthquake, ice storm, hail, heat wave, wildfire, tornado, avalanche.

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.

Pittsylvania County records 5.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 18.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.1 per 100,000 residents in Pittsylvania County.

Homicide
5.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.5
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
12.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.7
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 Pittsylvania County 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 Pittsylvania County rather than Pittsylvania County 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 58 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Piedmont Triad IntlGSO58 mi10,001 ft
Raleigh-Durham IntlRDU74 mi10,000 ft
Richmond IntlRIC124 mi9,003 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
60
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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 Pittsylvania County, VA