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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Harrisonburg, VA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Harrisonburg profile


Living in Harrisonburg



Harrisonburg is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 51,158 people and 16 associated neighborhoods, Harrisonburg is the 17th largest community in Virginia.

Also of interest is that Harrisonburg has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 7.59% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

In addition, Harrisonburg is a major college town that has a very high percentage of its residents over 18 years old who are college students. Naturally, collegiate life has a major influence on local Harrisonburg culture, lifestyle and entertainment options. Harrisonburg really pulses to the beat of the academic calendar. In Harrisonburg every fall, returning students reinvigorate the community, who you will notice are all over town, buying groceries, out with friends, and getting acquainted or re-acquainted with each other and Harrisonburg. One of the beneficial effects that colleges provide is that they tend to be lasting institutions that deliver direct economic benefits to the local economy in the form of such things as jobs for faculty and staff, and spending by students. Harrisonburg benefits directly from this.

Not only is Harrisonburg a city with many college students, but it also retains many recent graduates who are looking to start new careers, creating a very large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile. That’s because Harrisonburg is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Harrisonburg a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 18.14 minutes getting to work every day.

The citizens of Harrisonburg are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 35.19% of adults in Harrisonburg have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Harrisonburg in 2018 was $25,881, which is lower middle income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $103,524 for a family of four. However, Harrisonburg contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Harrisonburg is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Harrisonburg home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Harrisonburg residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Harrisonburg also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 20.78% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Harrisonburg include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Swiss.

In addition, Harrisonburg has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (17.58%).

The most common language spoken in Harrisonburg is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.