Town · Franklin County, Virginia

Rocky Mount, Virginia

Rocky Mount is a town in Franklin County, Virginia, part of the Roanoke, VA metro area. It has 4,950 residents. Rocky Mount, Virginia has a quality-of-life score of 38 out of 100 (low), ranking #9,658 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Virginia it ranks #307 of 375 cities and towns. It ranks best on students per teacher (low), math scores (high) and job growth (high). It ranks worst on dentists (low), grocery stores (low) and access to exercise opportunities (low).

38Low

Quality-of-life score: #9,658 of 15,651 cities and towns
Virginia: #307 of 375 in VA
Population: 4,950 (2020-2024)
Land area: 7 mi²
Density: 724.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 5168496

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.

Safety43#8,984/15,637
Economy37#9,875/15,631
Housing62#5,649/14,977
Health25#11,681/15,609
Healthcare14#13,532/15,650
Environment91#1,344/15,453
Education87#2,009/15,649
Infrastructure8#14,421/15,650
Community35#10,160/15,651
Leisure & amenities31#10,783/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Students per teacher · low10.8×
95/100Virginia 13.4×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsFranklin County value
Math scores · high3.41
91/100Virginia 3.27United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFranklin County value
Job growth · high2.0%
88/100Virginia -0.2%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataFranklin County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.51%
87/100Virginia 0.78%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Virginia 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFranklin County value
Reading scores · high3.23
80/100Virginia 3.16United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFranklin County value

Weaknesses

Dentists · low18 /100k
4/100Virginia 76 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFranklin County value
Grocery stores · low0.7 /10k
5/100Virginia 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsFranklin County value
Access to exercise opportunities · low43.8%
7/100Virginia 83.8%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFranklin County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.5 /10k
8/100Virginia 6.2 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyFranklin County value
Drought exposure · high83%
9/100Virginia 70%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAFranklin County value
Average weekly wage · low$943
10/100Virginia $1,540United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsFranklin County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
72.4% (2015-2019) → 87.8% (2020-2024)
+15 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$41,904 (2015-2019) → $63,280 (2020-2024)
+51%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
High school diploma or higherImproving
83.7% (2015-2019) → 93.4% (2020-2024)
+9.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Child poverty rateWorsening
27.6% (2015-2019) → 36.4% (2020-2024)
+8.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Unemployment rateImproving
9.5% (2015-2019) → 2.8% (2020-2024)
−6.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
44.4% (2015-2019) → 50.6% (2020-2024)
+6.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%

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, Rocky Mount, Virginia improved on 2 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 12 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

Household income+51%$41,904 → $63,280
Broadband+15 points72.4% → 87.8%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Rocky Mount, Virginia between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.7 min2015-2019	26.0 min2020-2024	+5.3 min	Within the margin of error	9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.7%2015-2019	21.7%2020-2024	−1 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Broadband subscriptions	72.4%2015-2019	87.8%2020-2024	+15 points	Improved	81%
Child poverty rate	27.6%2015-2019	36.4%2020-2024	+8.8 points	Within the margin of error	13%
Effective property tax rate	0.46%2015-2019	0.51%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	10%
High school diploma or higher	83.7%2015-2019	93.4%2020-2024	+9.7 points	Within the margin of error	95%
Home price to income ratio	3.4×2015-2019	3.3×2020-2024	−0.1×	Within the margin of error	85%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4262015-2019	0.4242020-2024	−0.002	Within the margin of error	53%
Median household income	$41,9042015-2019	$63,2802020-2024	+51%	Improved	85%
Poverty rate	18.1%2015-2019	18.6%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	26.1%2015-2019	30.5%2020-2024	+4.4 points	Within the margin of error	25%
Rent-burdened households	44.4%2015-2019	50.6%2020-2024	+6.2 points	Within the margin of error	34%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	10.1%2015-2019	11.7%2020-2024	+1.6 points	Within the margin of error	29%

“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 Rocky Mount, Virginia five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Rocky Mount, 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, Rocky Mount, Virginia itself moved −1 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

4,950 residents (±30)

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

2,059 households (±169)

Rocky Mount, Virginia
Virginia share

Under $25k24%†497
$25k–50k17%†353
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,059 households (±169)

Rocky Mount, Virginia
Virginia share

Own56%1,162
Rent44%897

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

2,195 workers (±278)

Rocky Mount, Virginia
Virginia share

Drive alone77%1,684
Carpool12%†261
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 Roanoke, 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 Franklin County, the county holding most of Rocky Mount's residents.

Franklin County has 1,238 employer establishments, 223 for every 10,000 residents (0.90× the US rate of 248; 0.92× Virginia's), with 13,569 paid employees at an average annual pay of $39,862. The Census Bureau also counts 4,113 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,238; 4,113 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 223; US 248 · Virginia 241
Paid employees: 13,569
Average annual pay: $39,862; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	136	24.5	1.58×More than typical	991	$58,447	437
Construction of buildings	85	15.3	2.03×More than typical	348	$45,851	172
Restaurants and other eating places	67	12.1	0.66×Fewer than typical	1,091	$21,224	15
Services to buildings and dwellings	58	10.5	1.55×More than typical	502	$29,705	351
Ambulatory health care services	57	10.3	0.49×Fewer than typical	452	$60,201	146
Automotive repair and maintenance	50	9	1.79×More than typical	151	$37,331	73
Building equipment contractors	46	8.3	1.38×More than typical	460	$57,991	70
Religious organizations	42	7.6	1.36×More than typical	168	$22,744	—
Lessors of real estate	39	7	0.57×Fewer than typical	62	$50,468	493
Landscaping services	36	6.5	1.85×More than typical	189	$46,048	132
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	34	6.1	1.94×More than typical	278	$63,680	62
Full-service restaurants	34	6.1	0.80×Fewer than typical	420	$24,931	5

Rank places for an industry Open Franklin County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 55,475 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 Rocky Mount, Virginia: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
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

ORION SOLUTIONS, L.L.C.$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

13.3KFY2017
9.5KFY2018
14.5KFY2019
7.5KFY2020
565FY2021
1KFY2022
27.6FY2023
4.8KFY2024
2.3K

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 Rocky Mount, Virginia, so they do not add up across cities.

Rocky Mount, Virginia's figures are part of those of Franklin County, VA ($4M 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: Rocky Mount is mostly in Franklin County.

See federal money in Franklin 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.

Rocky Mount, 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.

Franklin County60100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Roanoke, VA73

Other cities and towns in Franklin 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/5168496

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends