12 Population Statistics and Resources

Between 2000 and 2010, Virginia’s population grew by over 13%, or 922,509 people. Between 2010 and 2020, Virginia’s population increased by another 7.9%, or 630,369 people. That’s a total of over 1.5 million additional residents in just 20 years.

When we zoom into the county and city level over the most recent decade (2010-2020), we see the greatest gains in the northern, central, and tidewater regions of Virginia, while southwestern, southern, and eastern shore/ northern neck regions experienced population decreases. You can view the Virginia Public Access Project’s Visualization here.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch recently noted that “…Virginians who identify as Black or white, alone or in combination with other races, remained largely unchanged over the past decade. Black Virginians continue to make up about 20% of the state’s population, though that population grew only 9% over the past 10 years.^[1]” The article continued, mentioning that, “Virginians who identify as white, alone or in combination with other races, saw particularly small population growth at just under 3%. This group continues to make up a majority of the state’s population at 68%, down from 71% a decade prior… The number of Virginians who identify as only white and non-Hispanic actually dropped over the past decade by 128,000 people, a decline of 2%.” But these state-wide data only tell some of the story and don’t quite align with school and clinical setting enrollments. To be more specific, Virginia has experienced both diversification and stratification. How can both be true? A local jurisdiction like Alexandria City, for example, may have a median household income of over $100,00 and under 10% of residents living in poverty. Nearly 60% of residents identify as white; just over 21% as Black, 16.5% as Hispanic/ Latino, and 81% as biracial (as well as smaller percentages in other racial/ ethnic categories)^[2]. Yet this same locality enrolls a public school population that is just 26.6% white, 25.3% Black, and 37.6% Latino/ Hispanic. 70.4% of students are considered economically disadvantaged^[3], a large gap from the 10% of total Alexandria residents.