Town · Tazewell County, Virginia

Richlands, Virginia

Richlands is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, part of the Bluefield, WV-VA metro area. It has 5,171 residents. Richlands, Virginia has a quality-of-life score of 21 out of 100 (low), ranking #12,397 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Virginia it ranks #364 of 375 cities and towns. It ranks best on hot days (low), pharmacies (high) and reading scores (high). It ranks worst on life expectancy (low), injury deaths (high) and premature death (high).

21Low

Quality-of-life score: #12,397 of 15,651 cities and towns
Virginia: #364 of 375 in VA
Population: 5,171 (2020-2024)
Land area: 6 mi²
Density: 915.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 5166928

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety24#11,941/15,637
Economy6#14,753/15,631
Housing55#6,677/14,977
Health1#15,497/15,609
Healthcare25#11,742/15,650
Environment97#502/15,453
Education69#4,814/15,649
Infrastructure2#15,269/15,650
Community33#10,451/15,651
Leisure & amenities11#13,955/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Richlands, Virginia ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Tazewell 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

Hot days · low0 days
99/100Virginia 20 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationTazewell County value
Pharmacies · high3.4 /10k
98/100Virginia 1.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsTazewell County value
Reading scores · high3.31
88/100Virginia 3.16United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTazewell County value
Math scores · high3.37
88/100Virginia 3.27United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTazewell County value
Social associations · high14.1 /10k
87/100Virginia 11.1 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTazewell County value
Child care cost burden · low22.3%
87/100Virginia 24.4%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTazewell County value

Weaknesses

Life expectancy · low70.2 yrs
3/100Virginia 77.8 yrsUnited States 77.6 yrs2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTazewell County value
Injury deaths · high155 /100k
3/100Virginia 78 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTazewell County value
Premature death · high15,708 /100k
3/100Virginia 7,587 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTazewell County value
Frequent mental distress · high22.6%
3/100Virginia 18.6%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Mental health care shortage · high19.0
4/100Virginia 14.8United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationTazewell County value
Poverty rate · high30.2%
4/100Virginia 9.8%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001

Trends

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

Child poverty rateWorsening
27.9% (2015-2019) → 50.4% (2020-2024)
+23 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
35.8% (2015-2019) → 54.5% (2020-2024)
+19 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
69.6% (2015-2019) → 86.4% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherImproving
75.5% (2015-2019) → 87.2% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Poverty rateWorsening
23.1% (2015-2019) → 30.2% (2020-2024)
+7.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
25.4% (2015-2019) → 32.3% (2020-2024)
+6.9 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, Richlands, Virginia improved on 3 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 9 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.

Improved3

High school++12 points75.5% → 87.2%
Uninsured−6.7 points13.1% → 6.5%
Broadband+17 points69.6% → 86.4%

Declined2

Child poverty+23 points27.9% → 50.4%
Rent burden+19 points35.8% → 54.5%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Richlands, Virginia between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	22.4 min2015-2019	27.9 min2020-2024	+5.5 min	Within the margin of error	9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.7%2015-2019	13.5%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	20%
Broadband subscriptions	69.6%2015-2019	86.4%2020-2024	+17 points	Improved	84%
Child poverty rate	27.9%2015-2019	50.4%2020-2024	+23 points	Declined	3%
Effective property tax rate	0.64%2015-2019	0.74%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	6%
High school diploma or higher	75.5%2015-2019	87.2%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	97%
Home price to income ratio	2.8×2015-2019	3.0×2020-2024	+0.2×	Within the margin of error	66%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4672015-2019	0.5312020-2024	+0.064	Within the margin of error	12%
Median household income	$30,6002015-2019	$37,1542020-2024	+21%	Within the margin of error	36%
Poverty rate	23.1%2015-2019	30.2%2020-2024	+7.1 points	Within the margin of error	8%
Rent as share of income	25.4%2015-2019	32.3%2020-2024	+6.9 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Rent-burdened households	35.8%2015-2019	54.5%2020-2024	+19 points	Declined	10%
Unemployment rate	8.1%2015-2019	5.5%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Within the margin of error	87%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	13.1%2015-2019	6.5%2020-2024	−6.7 points	Improved	91%

“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 Richlands, Virginia five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Richlands, 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, Richlands, Virginia itself moved −13.2 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

5,171 residents (±21)

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

2,297 households (±171)

Richlands, Virginia
Virginia share

Under $25k38%869
$25k–50k23%534
$50k–75k11%†254

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,297 households (±171)

Richlands, Virginia
Virginia share

Own64%1,465
Rent36%832

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

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

1,403 workers (±227)

Richlands, Virginia
Virginia share

Drive alone79%1,113
Carpool11%†158
Public transit0.1%†

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 Bluefield, WV-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 Tazewell County, the county holding most of Richlands's residents.

Tazewell County has 895 employer establishments, 228 for every 10,000 residents (0.92× the US rate of 248; 0.94× Virginia's), with 11,435 paid employees at an average annual pay of $43,038. The Census Bureau also counts 2,194 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 895; 2,194 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 228; US 248 · Virginia 241
Paid employees: 11,435
Average annual pay: $43,038; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	88	22.4	1.08×About typical	883	$69,296	66
Restaurants and other eating places	64	16.3	0.89×About typical	1,168	$19,231	6
Religious organizations	48	12.2	2.20×More than typical	122	$16,885	—
Specialty trade contractors	36	9.2	0.59×Fewer than typical	380	$54,603	135
Gasoline stations	34	8.7	2.67×More than typical	279	$25,656	—
Limited-service restaurants	34	8.7	1.08×About typical	720	$19,457	4
Banks and credit unions	30	7.6	2.36×More than typical	406	$63,983	—
Offices of physicians	30	7.6	1.18×About typical	340	$91,826	10
Automotive repair and maintenance	29	7.4	1.47×More than typical	121	$37,446	47
Full-service restaurants	27	6.9	0.90×About typical	438	$18,799	—
Legal services	24	6.1	1.14×About typical	89	$39,933	10
Lessors of real estate	23	5.9	0.48×Fewer than typical	67	$44,299	228

Rank places for an industry Open Tazewell County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 39,272 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 Richlands, 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

14.6KFY2017
30.8KFY2018
5.4KFY2019
1.1MFY2020
9.1KFY2021
1.8KFY2022
-403.1FY2023
81.3FY2024

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 Richlands, Virginia, so they do not add up across cities.

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

See federal money in Tazewell 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.

Richlands, 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.

Tazewell County38100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Bluefield, WV-VA22

Other cities and towns in Tazewell 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/5166928

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends