Waynesboro city, VA

County Profile

22,841 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Waynesboro 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.

63out of 100
Area Score
Top 35% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
OpportunityTop 36% of 1,463 counties measured62
Schools1,101st of 1,377 counties measured26
GrowthTop 1% of 1,453 counties measured86
Housing affordability762nd of 1,462 counties measured73
ClimateTop 18% of 1,463 counties measured76
Physical resilienceTop 42% of 1,463 counties measured65
Access1,386th of 1,463 counties measured41
Economic stabilityTop 34% of 1,463 counties measured71
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.2% and median household income $59,994, putting employment conditions in the middle range of counties measured.

In the public schools here, 73% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.7 students for every teacher.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 438 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 155% on the prior year.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
22,841
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$59,994
Bottom 35% nationally
Density
1,526/sq mi
15 sq mi of land
Median age
38.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Waynesboro city
Virginia
Nearest major airport
RIC
95 mi · Richmond Intl
Median home value
$245,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2%, lower than in 84% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 0.2% over the past year, to 11,712 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$57,11546th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$50,99726th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$3,7552024 ACS 5-Year$59,994Bottom 35%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,8252024 ACS 5-Year$32,636Bottom 38%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year10.4%Top 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year23.0 minTop 31%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year25.7%Top 36%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year75.3%35th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202611,712Bottom 14%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−0.4%Bottom 44%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+0.2%Top 35%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202612,10514th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year79.7%Top 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.1%Bottom 33%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.2%Top 16%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year10.3%65th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/073.92.2
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.2% in July 2026. It has been falling, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. 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

202120222023202460k47k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $59,994 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 — Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand1,880$47,310
Retail Salespersons1,520$33,440
Registered Nurses1,500$92,390
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,470$29,310
Cashiers1,330$29,530
Stockers and Order Fillers1,240$36,880

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

73% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 70% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.7 students for every full-time teacher across 7 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
72.6%
Bottom 11% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
70.1%
Bottom 21% in Virginia
All 7 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Waynesboro HighWaynesboro City Public Schools92614.975%82%
Kate Collins MiddleWaynesboro City Public Schools60212.066%68%
William Perry ElementaryWaynesboro City Public Schools44714.077%63%
Westwood Hills ElementaryWaynesboro City Public Schools38211.679%70%
Berkeley Glenn ElementaryWaynesboro City Public Schools25613.572%62%
Wenonah ElementaryWaynesboro City Public Schools24615.462%52%
Wayne Hills CenterWaynesboro City Public Schools18418.4——

94.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Virginia’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 7% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 92.9, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA Metro Area is up 58% over five years, and up 7.5% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,639 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.67% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,261, some 24% above the $1,020 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,261 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $50,400 a year, about 84% of the median household income here of $59,994.

The typical renter household here spends 29% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,020 a month.

A median home at $245,500 costs 3.2 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $77,637, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Cost of living
92.9

Prices here run about 7% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
29.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.2×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,261
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,020
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$245,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Waynesboro city’s median household income of $59,994, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA Metro Area’s figure202392.9Top 40%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+7.5%96th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+57.6%92nd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+100.1%58th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.42024 ACS 5-Year3.2Bottom 25%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year59.9%7th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±382024 ACS 5-Year10,51045th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,095Bottom 35%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,734Bottom 34%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,261Bottom 41%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$682024 ACS 5-Year$1,020Bottom 29%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,3392024 ACS 5-Year$245,50071st percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$812024 ACS 5-Year$1,63952nd percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$10,2382024 ACS 5-Year$77,637Top 48%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.05%2024 ACS 5-Year0.67%37th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year29.1%Bottom 36%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±252024 ACS 5-Year01st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year6.4%28th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±3182024 ACS 5-Year66919th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

86/ 100
Top 1% of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was upward, in a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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 grown 5% since 2020, reaching 23,498 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 353 units authorized in 2025, up 156% on the prior year.

Federal tax returns show Waynesboro city gained about 1.6% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $57,115, above the $50,997 of households that moved out.

At 19.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
438
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
19.2
Top 1% nationally
Year over year
+155%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
34.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202423k22k
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. It has been rising for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+1.6%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
24%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$57,115
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$50,997
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Augusta County, VA 565 people · 28% of arrivals
  2. Albemarle County, VA 223 people · 11% of arrivals
  3. Staunton city, VA 157 people · 7.8% of arrivals
  4. Rockingham County, VA 66 people · 3.3% of arrivals
  5. Charlottesville city, VA 55 people · 2.7% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Augusta County, VA 607 people · 36% of departures
  2. Staunton city, VA 146 people · 8.6% of departures
  3. Albemarle County, VA 113 people · 6.6% of departures
  4. Rockingham County, VA 46 people · 2.7% of departures
  5. Harrisonburg city, VA 31 people · 1.8% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025353117
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+202%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 28°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 48.2 inches.

20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHARLOTTESVILLE 2 SSE, 24.2 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals48.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals28°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals40°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

65 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, strong wind and earthquake, with inland flooding alone responsible for 74% of it. Strong wind is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

HurricaneModerate
EarthquakeModerate
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, heat wave, landslide, hail, tornado, ice storm, wildfire, drought, avalanche, coastal flooding, tsunami, volcanic activity.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Waynesboro 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 about 12.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 11.5 per 100,000 residents in Waynesboro city.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
11.5
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
15.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Waynesboro city as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Richmond Intl at 95 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year91.4%Top 17%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle95 miBottom 4%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 15%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year6.4%Top 19%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Richmond IntlRIC95 mi9,003 ft
Washington Dulles IntlIAD99 mi11,500 ft
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI143 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
63
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Waynesboro city, VA