Town · Scott County, Virginia

Gate City, Virginia

Gate City is a town in Scott County, Virginia, part of the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA metro area. It has 1,928 residents. Gate City, Virginia has a quality-of-life score of 25 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,735 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Virginia it ranks #353 of 375 cities and towns. It ranks best on math scores (high), reading scores (high) and high school diploma or higher (high). It ranks worst on arts, entertainment and recreation (low), new business applications (low) and public EV charging ports (low).

25Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,735 of 15,651 cities and towns
Virginia: #353 of 375 in VA
Population: 1,928 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 484.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 5130496

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 71 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety33#10,507/15,637
Economy25#11,692/15,631
Housing31#10,272/14,977
Health18#12,874/15,609
Healthcare15#13,307/15,650
Environment88#1,866/15,453
Education96#637/15,649
Infrastructure23#12,051/15,650
Community10#14,076/15,651
Leisure & amenities11#13,903/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Gate City, Virginia ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Scott County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Math scores · high3.63
99/100Virginia 3.27United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteScott County value
Reading scores · high3.42
96/100Virginia 3.16United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteScott County value
High school diploma or higher · high97.1%
92/100Virginia 91.6%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Unemployment rate · low1.3%
90/100Virginia 3.4%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Pharmacies · high2.4 /10k
87/100Virginia 1.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsScott County value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Virginia 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteScott County value

Weaknesses

Arts, entertainment and recreation · low0.0 /10k
1/100Virginia 4.6 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsScott County value
New business applications · low7.2 /1k
3/100Virginia 15.6 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauScott County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Virginia 6.2 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyScott County value
Dentists · low19 /100k
4/100Virginia 76 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteScott County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.0 /10k
4/100Virginia 1.6 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsScott County value
Drug overdose deaths · high31.4 /100k
7/100Virginia 12.0 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataScott County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
64.8% (2015-2019) → 89.7% (2020-2024)
+25 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
31.3% (2015-2019) → 15.8% (2020-2024)
−16 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
High school diploma or higherImproving
82.3% (2015-2019) → 97.1% (2020-2024)
+15 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
57.5% (2015-2019) → 69.2% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
20.3% (2015-2019) → 29.3% (2020-2024)
+9 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
42.5% (2015-2019) → 35.2% (2020-2024)
−7.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Gate City, Virginia improved on 2 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

High school++15 points82.3% → 97.1%
Broadband+25 points64.8% → 89.7%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Gate City, Virginia between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.2 min2015-2019	22.1 min2020-2024	−1.2 min	Within the margin of error	62%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.3%2015-2019	29.3%2020-2024	+9 points	Within the margin of error	87%
Broadband subscriptions	64.8%2015-2019	89.7%2020-2024	+25 points	Improved	95%
Effective property tax rate	0.81%2015-2019	0.84%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	12%
High school diploma or higher	82.3%2015-2019	97.1%2020-2024	+15 points	Improved	99%
Home price to income ratio	2.8×2015-2019	3.8×2020-2024	+1.0×	Within the margin of error	23%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5012015-2019	0.5242020-2024	+0.023	Within the margin of error	31%
Median household income	$34,2282015-2019	$42,8572020-2024	+25%	Within the margin of error	44%
Poverty rate	21.4%2015-2019	16.7%2020-2024	−4.8 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	42.5%2015-2019	35.2%2020-2024	−7.3 points	Within the margin of error	89%
Rent-burdened households	57.5%2015-2019	69.2%2020-2024	+12 points	Within the margin of error	20%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Gate City, Virginia five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Gate City, Virginia in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Gate City, Virginia itself moved +9.4 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,928 residents (±318)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

886 households (±140)

Gate City, Virginia
Virginia share

Under $25k34%†305
$25k–50k21%†185
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

886 households (±140)

Gate City, Virginia
Virginia share

Own70%623
Rent30%†263

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

873 workers (±203)

Gate City, Virginia
Virginia share

Drive alone91%797
Carpool2.1%†18
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Scott County, the county holding most of Gate City's residents.

Scott County has 260 employer establishments, 121 for every 10,000 residents (0.49× the US rate of 248; 0.50× Virginia's), with 4,193 paid employees at an average annual pay of $42,959. The Census Bureau also counts 994 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 260; 994 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 121; US 248 · Virginia 241
Paid employees: 4,193
Average annual pay: $42,959; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Scott County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	23	10.7	0.52×Fewer than typical	341	$73,651	22
Gasoline stations	23	10.7	3.31×More than typical	134	$21,619	—
Restaurants and other eating places	21	9.8	0.53×Fewer than typical	389	$18,787	5
Religious organizations	12	5.6	1.01×About typical	31	$23,968	—
Full-service restaurants	11	5.1	0.67×Fewer than typical	125	$22,184	3
Specialty trade contractors	11	5.1	0.33×Fewer than typical	41	$40,902	103
Banks and credit unions	10	4.7	1.45×More than typical	55	$47,200	—
Grocery and convenience stores	10	4.7	1.57×More than typical	304	$22,368	3
Limited-service restaurants	10	4.7	0.58×Fewer than typical	264	$17,178	—
Truck transportation	9	4.2	0.83×Too few to compare	70	$63,543	19
General merchandise stores	8	3.7	2.11×Too few to compare	58	$20,879	13
Legal services	8	3.7	0.69×Too few to compare	21	$50,381	8

Rank places for an industry Open Scott County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 21,409 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Gate City, Virginia: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

825.8FY2024

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Gate City, Virginia, so they do not add up across cities.

Gate City, Virginia's figures are part of those of Scott County, VA ($94.4K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Gate City is mostly in Scott County.

See federal money in Scott County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Gate City, Virginia is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

H. Morgan GriffithR-VA-9 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 1.3%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Scott County23100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA36

Other cities and towns in Scott County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/5130496

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends