Blacksburg is a medium-sized town located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 45,452 people and 13 associated neighborhoods, Blacksburg is the 23rd largest community in Virginia.Blacksburg is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 92.27% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Blacksburg is a town of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Blacksburg who work in teaching (23.73%), food service (10.07%), and sales jobs (9.08%). Also of interest is that Blacksburg has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 17.19% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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. Blacksburg is also a major college town with a large number of people who are 18 years or older and attending college. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in Blacksburg have a strong influence on the local culture and entertainment scene, which may seem dormant by comparison in the summer months when much of the student population is away. In the fall, the return of students has a reinvigorating effect on the community. Because colleges are lasting institutions, they have a stabilizing effect on the economy by providing direct local benefits such as jobs for faculty and staff and spending by students. Blacksburg’s economy is one such example of this. One of the benefits of Blacksburg is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 16.65 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result. A lot of people in Blacksburg take the bus for their daily commute. For the size of the town, the number of people who use public transportation is quite high. For many people in Blacksburg, this fills their need for low-cost transportation.Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Blacksburg. 69.74% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%. The per capita income in Blacksburg in 2022 was $29,454, which is lower middle income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $117,816 for a family of four. However, Blacksburg contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Blacksburg also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 42.77% of its population below the federal poverty line.Blacksburg is a very ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Blacksburg home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Blacksburg residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Blacksburg include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Blacksburg is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.
