Fredericksburg, Virginia

Area Profile

28,873 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Fredericksburg, in Fredericksburg city.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 47% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2529th of 3,904 published cities49
Schools1629th of 2,668 published cities43
Growth1784th of 2,973 published cities45
Housing affordability3163rd of 4,223 published cities64
ClimateTop 25% of 4,223 published cities76
Physical resilienceTop 13% of 4,182 published cities88
Access3480th of 4,226 published cities76
Economic stabilityTop 47% of 4,226 published cities62
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.1% and median household income $86,071, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

In the public schools here, 49% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.5 students for every teacher.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Fredericksburg in the top 13% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
28,873
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$86,071
Top 28% nationally
Density
2,763/sq mi
10.4 sq mi of land
Median age
32.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Fredericksburg city
Virginia
Metro area
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Nearest major airport
IAD
45 mi · Washington Dulles Intl
Median home value
$483,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.1% is lower than 59% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 3.0% over the past year, to 15,605 employed residents.

46% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 86% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,832$86,071Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,295$47,502Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.2%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute33.5 minTop 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher46.1%Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment15,605Bottom 16%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.7%Bottom 13%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.0%Bottom 10%June 2026
Labor force16,269Bottom 16%June 2026
Labor force participation69.3%Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$91,930Top 6%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$71,060Top 8%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.5%Top 29%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.1%Bottom 41%June 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 4.1% 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
202120222023202486k72k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $86,071 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 — Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
General and Operations Managers112,530$156,460
Business Operations Specialists, All Other76,600$104,770
Software Developers69,060$154,930
Retail Salespersons66,920$36,610
Management Analysts62,360$126,830
Fast Food and Counter Workers60,560$34,600

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.

49% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 65% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
21
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
48.8%
Bottom 39% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
64.5%
Bottom 44% in Virginia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Riverbend HighSpotsylvania County Public Schools1,91317.2
Massaponax HighSpotsylvania County Public Schools1,69214.6
Courtland HighSpotsylvania County Public Schools1,49717.4
Chancellor HighSpotsylvania County Public Schools1,32115.7
James Monroe HighFredericksburg City Public Schools1,01315.3
Parkside ElementarySpotsylvania County Public Schools94617.559%73%
Hugh Mercer ElementaryFredericksburg City Public Schools85915.9
Lafayette ElementaryFredericksburg City Public Schools81215.333%55%
Chancellor MiddleSpotsylvania County Public Schools79913.142%72%
Walker-Grant MiddleFredericksburg City Public Schools79614.727%52%
Cedar Forest ElementarySpotsylvania County Public Schools78916.452%64%
Battlefield MiddleSpotsylvania County Public Schools78014.232%67%

64.5% 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 $1,619 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.6 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
22.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,619
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$483,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.62Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate39.7%Bottom 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4712,419Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$66$1,619Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$24,982$483,700Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.6%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.6%Bottom 32%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
45/ 100
Ranks 1784 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 3 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 grown 7% since 2020, reaching 29,992 in 2024.

Permit activity has fallen for 3 consecutive years.

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

At 1.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
31
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.1
Bottom 33% nationally
Year over year
+41%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202430k28k
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
2020202220232024202518325
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−76%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 28°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.0 inches, including 12.4 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 QUANTICO MCAS, 17.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation41.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall12.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low28°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing43°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

88 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, strong wind and tornado.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 97% of measured US cities.

HurricaneModerate
EarthquakeElevated
Strong windModerate
TornadoModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, heat wave, hail, inland flooding, winter weather, coastal flooding, ice storm, landslide, wildfire, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. 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.

Fredericksburg city records 3.1 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 12.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.0 per 100,000 residents in Fredericksburg city.

Homicide
3.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.0
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 Fredericksburg 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 Fredericksburg rather than Fredericksburg 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

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 45 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Washington Dulles IntlIAD45 mi11,500 ft
Richmond IntlRIC56 mi9,003 ft
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI75 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
62
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Other cities in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
WashingtonDistrict of Columbia681,29465vs Fredericksburg
ArlingtonArlington County236,254vs Fredericksburg
AlexandriaAlexandria city156,97661vs Fredericksburg
GermantownMontgomery County90,719vs Fredericksburg
FrederickFrederick County83,39570vs Fredericksburg
WaldorfCharles County82,943vs Fredericksburg
Silver SpringMontgomery County81,462vs Fredericksburg
CentrevilleFairfax County71,706vs Fredericksburg
Dale CityPrince William County71,016vs Fredericksburg
GaithersburgMontgomery County69,82568vs Fredericksburg
BethesdaMontgomery County69,397vs Fredericksburg
RockvilleMontgomery County67,67171vs Fredericksburg

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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.

ZIP codes in Fredericksburg

3 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2240765,425$111,12966
2240831,586$110,11264
2240128,731$86,23060