Town · Frederick County, Virginia

Stephens City, Virginia

Stephens City is a town in Frederick County, Virginia, part of the Winchester, VA-WV metro area. It has 2,393 residents. Stephens City, Virginia has a quality-of-life score of 66 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,284 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Virginia it ranks #207 of 375 cities and towns. It ranks best on child care cost burden (low), violent crime rate (low) and drug overdose deaths (low). It ranks worst on public libraries (low), dentists (low) and drought exposure (high).

66High

Quality-of-life score: #5,284 of 15,651 cities and towns
Virginia: #207 of 375 in VA
Population: 2,393 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 985.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 5175344

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 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.

Safety79#3,285/15,637
Economy84#2,451/15,631
Housing82#2,688/14,977
Health69#4,837/15,609
Healthcare15#13,306/15,650
Environment84#2,506/15,453
Education73#4,210/15,649
Infrastructure33#10,420/15,650
Community50#7,783/15,651
Leisure & amenities11#13,907/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Child care cost burden · low18.4%
97/100Virginia 24.4%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFrederick County value
Violent crime rate · low70 /100k
94/100Virginia 206 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationFrederick County value
Drug overdose deaths · low8.2 /100k
88/100Virginia 12.0 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataFrederick County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.375
88/100Virginia 0.472United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Food environment index · high9.0
87/100Virginia 8.9United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFrederick County value
Poverty rate · low4.3%
87/100Virginia 9.8%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001

Weaknesses

Public libraries · low0.1 /10k
0/100Virginia 0.4 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesFrederick County value
Dentists · low13 /100k
2/100Virginia 76 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFrederick County value
Drought exposure · high97%
3/100Virginia 70%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAFrederick County value
Grocery stores · low0.7 /10k
4/100Virginia 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsFrederick County value
Preventable hospital stays · high3,928 /100k
10/100Virginia 2,649 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFrederick County value
Restaurants and bars · low5.1 /10k
11/100Virginia 8.4 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsFrederick County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
2,184 (2015-2019) → 2,393 (2020-2024)
+9.6%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateImproving
13.4% (2015-2019) → 1.0% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Average commute timeWorsening
27.1 min (2015-2019) → 43.7 min (2020-2024)
+62%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Median household incomeImproving
$64,643 (2015-2019) → $102,593 (2020-2024)
+59%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
80.0% (2015-2019) → 89.5% (2020-2024)
+9.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
33.1% (2015-2019) → 40.5% (2020-2024)
+7.4 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, Stephens City, Virginia improved on 1 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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.

Improved1

Broadband+9.5 points80.0% → 89.5%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Stephens City, Virginia between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	27.1 min2015-2019	43.7 min2020-2024	+16.7 min	Within the margin of error	0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.5%2015-2019	31.2%2020-2024	+0.7 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Broadband subscriptions	80.0%2015-2019	89.5%2020-2024	+9.5 points	Improved	57%
Effective property tax rate	0.54%2015-2019	0.53%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	18%
High school diploma or higher	89.5%2015-2019	87.3%2020-2024	−2.1 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Home price to income ratio	3.2×2015-2019	3.2×2020-2024	−0.1×	Within the margin of error	82%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3892015-2019	0.3752020-2024	−0.014	Within the margin of error	63%
Median household income	$64,6432015-2019	$102,5932020-2024	+59%	Within the margin of error	90%
Poverty rate	10.3%2015-2019	4.3%2020-2024	−5.9 points	Within the margin of error	84%
Rent as share of income	24.2%2015-2019	24.0%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Rent-burdened households	33.1%2015-2019	40.5%2020-2024	+7.4 points	Within the margin of error	30%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	10.8%2015-2019	10.2%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Within the margin of error	53%

“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 Stephens City, Virginia five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Stephens 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, Stephens City, Virginia itself moved −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

2,393 residents (±416)

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

930 households (±137)

Stephens City, Virginia
Virginia share

Under $25k5.4%†50
$25k–50k11%†102
$50k–75k25%

Homes

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

Owners and renters

930 households (±137)

Stephens City, Virginia
Virginia share

Own67%623
Rent33%307

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+18.3 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

1,440 workers (±352)

Stephens City, Virginia
Virginia share

Drive alone75%1,086
Carpool12%†175
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 Winchester, VA-WV

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 Frederick County, the county holding most of Stephens City's residents.

Frederick County has 1,695 employer establishments, 176 for every 10,000 residents (0.71× the US rate of 248; 0.73× Virginia's), with 31,079 paid employees at an average annual pay of $56,505. The Census Bureau also counts 7,305 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,695; 7,305 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 176; US 248 · Virginia 241
Paid employees: 31,079
Average annual pay: $56,505; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	176	18.3	1.18×About typical	1,570	$63,159	595
Restaurants and other eating places	104	10.8	0.59×Fewer than typical	2,134	$22,475	22
Construction of buildings	83	8.6	1.14×About typical	373	$63,732	304
Lessors of real estate	79	8.2	0.67×Fewer than typical	302	$54,672	736
Ambulatory health care services	77	8	0.38×Fewer than typical	624	$84,764	283
Services to buildings and dwellings	68	7.1	1.05×About typical	624	$34,054	509
Building equipment contractors	64	6.6	1.10×About typical	592	$57,998	87
Religious organizations	62	6.4	1.16×About typical	433	$23,896	—
Truck transportation	62	6.4	1.27×More than typical	932	$62,960	163
Automotive repair and maintenance	49	5.1	1.01×About typical	322	$53,373	110
Limited-service restaurants	47	4.9	0.61×Fewer than typical	955	$20,204	8
Full-service restaurants	46	4.8	0.62×Fewer than typical	994	$25,432	10

Rank places for an industry Open Frederick County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 96,248 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 $2,857 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Stephens City, Virginia: $1.19 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $2,857
Per resident: $1.19; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

Department of State$2,857100%

Top recipients

GLOCAL SOLUTIONS LLC$2,857100%

Spending by fiscal year

13.9KFY2017
5.6KFY2018
7.4KFY2019
127.6KFY2020
121.4KFY2021
147KFY2022
133.4KFY2023
136.4KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Ventilation, heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration equipment manufacturing · 3334$2,857100%

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 Stephens City, Virginia, so they do not add up across cities.

Stephens City, Virginia's figures are part of those of Frederick County, VA ($78.2M 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: Stephens City is mostly in Frederick County.

See federal money in Frederick 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.

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

House

Ben ClineR-VA-6 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 1.0%

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.

Frederick County80100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Winchester, VA-WV67

Other cities and towns in Frederick 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/5175344

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends