Like all states, Virginia has certain places that are going on hard times. These Virginia places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Virginia.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 62 cities in Virginia with more than 5,000 people.
$38,675 median income · 31.1% poverty · #2 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Galax city, Virginia
Galax, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Virginia thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 6,726 people averages the 2nd lowest median household income in Virginia and the 2nd highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$37,154 median income · 30.2% poverty · #1 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Tazewell County, Virginia
The second poorest city in Virginia is Richlands.
The city ranks as having the 3rd highest incidence of poverty and lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 2highest in the Old Dominion.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,052 median income · 26.9% poverty · #6 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Halifax County, Virginia
Placing as the third poorest city, South Boston’s median income ranks as the 6th lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 26.9% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Old Dominion.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$50,182 median income · 42.7% poverty · #11 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Montgomery County, Virginia
Blacksburg ranks as the fourth poorest place in Virginia.
The town ranks as having the 11th lowest median household income and the highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$41,944 median income · 25.7% poverty · #5 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Covington city, Virginia
The fifth poorest city in Virginia is Covington.
The city ranks as having the 5th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 8th highest in Virginia.
Still not the best news for Covington.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,423 median income · 24.7% poverty · #7 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Danville city, Virginia
Danville ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Old Dominion.
It ranks as having the 9th highest incidence of poverty and the 18th highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$46,727 median income · 23.5% poverty · #8 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Martinsville city, Virginia
Martinsville places as the seventh poorest city in Virginia.
The city of over 13,658 ranks as having the 11th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$40,896 median income · 20.7% poverty · #3 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Smyth County, Virginia
Marion ranks as the eighth poorest city in Virginia.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,581 median income · 26.2% poverty · #16 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Wise County, Virginia
Big Stone Gap couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Virginia; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 16th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Big Stone Gap ranks as having the 6th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Virginia.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$57,348 median income · 28.7% poverty · #19 lowest income in Virginia
Located in
Radford city, Virginia
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Virginia is Radford.
The city of 16,726 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Old Dominion.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Virginia’s statewide median.
Virginia statewide median: $93,170
Virginia statewide median: 9.9%
Virginia statewide median: 4.3%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Virginia
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Virginia for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 62 places with more than 5,000 people in Virginia, we ranked each place from 1 to 62 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Galax, crowned the “Poorest Place In Virginia For 2026”. The median Virginia home is 41 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Virginia
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Galax | 2.00 | 6,726 | $38,675 | 31.1% | 5.1% |
| 2 | Richlands | 2.00 | 5,171 | $37,154 | 30.2% | 5.5% |
| 3 | South Boston | 5.50 | 7,853 | $44,052 | 26.9% | 5.2% |
| 4 | Blacksburg | 6.00 | 45,446 | $50,182 | 42.7% | 3.1% |
| 5 | Covington | 6.50 | 5,680 | $41,944 | 25.7% | 2.8% |
| 6 | Danville | 8.00 | 42,214 | $44,423 | 24.7% | 5.6% |
| 7 | Martinsville | 9.50 | 13,658 | $46,727 | 23.5% | 2.9% |
| 8 | Marion | 10.50 | 5,670 | $40,896 | 20.7% | 4.8% |
| 9 | Big Stone Gap | 11.00 | 5,162 | $54,581 | 26.2% | 7.0% |
| 10 | Radford | 11.50 | 16,726 | $57,348 | 28.7% | 8.1% |
| 11 | Farmville | 11.50 | 7,774 | $40,966 | 20.4% | 2.9% |
| 12 | Pulaski | 13.00 | 8,893 | $49,491 | 21.2% | 5.2% |
| 13 | Wytheville | 13.00 | 8,202 | $47,270 | 21.2% | 2.4% |
| 14 | Petersburg | 13.50 | 33,537 | $50,698 | 21.7% | 10.0% |
| 15 | Hopewell | 15.00 | 22,959 | $54,729 | 21.8% | 9.2% |
| 16 | Harrisonburg | 16.00 | 51,392 | $62,254 | 25.7% | 6.9% |
| 17 | Ashland | 17.00 | 7,772 | $61,164 | 24.3% | 4.9% |
| 18 | Bristol | 19.50 | 16,849 | $50,404 | 18.0% | 6.3% |
| 19 | Buena Vista | 21.50 | 6,593 | $57,833 | 18.8% | 1.4% |
| 20 | Winchester | 21.50 | 27,913 | $63,974 | 21.5% | 6.4% |
| 21 | Roanoke | 21.50 | 98,355 | $55,378 | 18.3% | 5.6% |
| 22 | Abingdon | 22.50 | 8,330 | $54,544 | 15.9% | 3.0% |
| 23 | Emporia | 22.50 | 5,547 | $51,899 | 15.8% | 2.9% |
| 24 | Lynchburg | 22.50 | 79,497 | $57,947 | 18.6% | 5.3% |
| 25 | Franklin | 24.00 | 8,250 | $63,245 | 19.3% | 7.9% |
| 26 | Portsmouth | 25.50 | 97,190 | $60,491 | 17.3% | 6.6% |
| 27 | Woodstock | 26.00 | 5,871 | $76,100 | 22.1% | 5.6% |
| 28 | Richmond | 27.50 | 229,359 | $64,587 | 18.2% | 5.7% |
| 29 | Charlottesville | 28.50 | 45,437 | $74,824 | 19.6% | 3.7% |
| 30 | Williamsburg | 30.50 | 15,798 | $75,604 | 18.8% | 6.8% |
| 31 | Norfolk | 31.00 | 233,596 | $66,109 | 16.5% | 5.7% |
| 32 | Front Royal | 31.50 | 15,296 | $64,838 | 14.3% | 5.0% |
| 33 | Waynesboro | 31.50 | 22,841 | $59,994 | 11.2% | 5.1% |
| 34 | Newport News | 34.00 | 184,216 | $69,634 | 14.5% | 5.8% |
| 35 | Staunton | 35.50 | 25,948 | $65,581 | 12.4% | 5.3% |
| 36 | Vinton | 36.50 | 8,056 | $65,445 | 10.5% | 0.9% |
| 37 | Hampton | 36.50 | 137,557 | $69,621 | 12.7% | 6.3% |
| 38 | Orange | 37.50 | 5,066 | $76,370 | 14.1% | 6.7% |
| 39 | Salem | 38.50 | 25,618 | $66,725 | 10.2% | 3.6% |
| 40 | Strasburg | 39.50 | 7,214 | $62,464 | 7.5% | 5.5% |
| 41 | Lexington | 40.50 | 7,525 | $84,517 | 14.0% | 0.6% |
| 42 | Fredericksburg | 41.50 | 28,873 | $86,071 | 13.2% | 5.1% |
| 43 | Christiansburg | 41.50 | 22,720 | $77,147 | 11.7% | 2.4% |
| 44 | Culpeper | 43.50 | 20,794 | $94,721 | 12.8% | 2.3% |
| 45 | Warrenton | 44.50 | 10,176 | $83,331 | 9.7% | 2.0% |
| 46 | Colonial Heights | 46.50 | 18,352 | $76,505 | 7.9% | 3.6% |
| 47 | Bridgewater | 46.50 | 6,708 | $75,280 | 6.3% | 3.4% |
| 48 | Suffolk | 47.00 | 98,796 | $92,666 | 9.4% | 5.0% |
| 49 | Chesapeake | 48.00 | 252,583 | $95,373 | 9.4% | 4.9% |
| 50 | Virginia Beach | 48.50 | 456,349 | $92,968 | 8.6% | 4.0% |
| 51 | Dumfries | 51.50 | 5,816 | $82,355 | 5.0% | 3.4% |
| 52 | Fairfax | 52.00 | 25,026 | $132,348 | 9.1% | 3.3% |
| 53 | Alexandria | 52.50 | 156,976 | $119,681 | 7.9% | 3.3% |
| 54 | Manassas | 53.00 | 42,976 | $113,590 | 7.7% | 3.8% |
| 55 | Smithfield | 54.50 | 8,834 | $113,158 | 5.4% | 2.5% |
| 56 | Herndon | 54.50 | 24,672 | $148,000 | 8.1% | 4.1% |
| 57 | Manassas Park | 54.50 | 16,798 | $103,250 | 5.1% | 5.5% |
| 58 | Leesburg | 56.50 | 49,171 | $145,205 | 6.6% | 2.8% |
| 59 | Poquoson | 58.50 | 12,639 | $120,972 | 4.5% | 3.2% |
| 60 | Vienna | 60.00 | 16,412 | $216,953 | 5.0% | 4.4% |
| 61 | Falls Church | 60.00 | 14,710 | $143,262 | 4.0% | 5.0% |
| 62 | Purcellville | 60.50 | 8,973 | $165,121 | 4.6% | 1.4% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 62 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Virginia for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Virginia, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Virginia.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on Virginia? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
