Town · Roanoke County, Virginia

Vinton, Virginia

Vinton is a town in Roanoke County, Virginia, part of the Roanoke, VA metro area. It has 8,056 residents. Vinton, Virginia has a quality-of-life score of 75 out of 100 (high), ranking #3,950 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Virginia it ranks #166 of 375 cities and towns. It ranks best on reading scores (high), primary care physicians (high) and distance to an Amtrak station (low). It ranks worst on drought exposure (high), broadband subscriptions (low) and suicide rate (high).

75High

Quality-of-life score: #3,950 of 15,651 cities and towns
Virginia: #166 of 375 in VA
Population: 8,056 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 2,590.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 5181280

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 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.

Safety51#7,643/15,637
Economy59#6,440/15,631
Housing93#1,081/14,977
Health38#9,692/15,609
Healthcare84#2,568/15,650
Environment98#249/15,453
Education77#3,594/15,649
Infrastructure12#13,702/15,650
Community74#4,049/15,651
Leisure & amenities53#7,304/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Reading scores · high3.40
95/100Virginia 3.16United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRoanoke County value
Primary care physicians · high128 /100k
95/100Virginia 76 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRoanoke County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · low6 mi
93/100Virginia 14 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauRoanoke County value
Unemployment rate · low0.9%
93/100Virginia 3.4%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Preventable hospital stays · low1,738 /100k
93/100Virginia 2,649 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRoanoke County value
Dentists · high101 /100k
90/100Virginia 76 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRoanoke County value

Weaknesses

Drought exposure · high95%
4/100Virginia 70%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAARoanoke County value
Broadband subscriptions · low74.1%
5/100Virginia 91.0%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Suicide rate · high21.6 /100k
16/100Virginia 13.2 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataRoanoke County value
Distance to an airport · high81 mi
17/100Virginia 32 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauRoanoke County value
Dental care shortage · high16.0
18/100Virginia 6.1United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationRoanoke County value
Restaurants and bars · low6.1 /10k
20/100Virginia 8.4 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsRoanoke County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsImproving
41.4% (2015-2019) → 30.6% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
17.9% (2015-2019) → 9.7% (2020-2024)
−8.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$49,618 (2015-2019) → $65,445 (2020-2024)
+32%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Unemployment rateImproving
4.9% (2015-2019) → 0.9% (2020-2024)
−4 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Broadband subscriptionsWorsening
77.9% (2015-2019) → 74.1% (2020-2024)
−3.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherImproving
87.6% (2015-2019) → 90.8% (2020-2024)
+3.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

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, Vinton, Virginia improved on 1 of 13 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.

Improved1

Household income+32%$49,618 → $65,445

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Vinton, Virginia between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	25.5 min2015-2019	25.9 min2020-2024	+0.4 min	Within the margin of error	42%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.3%2015-2019	18.4%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Broadband subscriptions	77.9%2015-2019	74.1%2020-2024	−3.8 points	Within the margin of error	3%
Child poverty rate	17.9%2015-2019	9.7%2020-2024	−8.1 points	Within the margin of error	78%
Effective property tax rate	0.91%2015-2019	0.80%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	39%
High school diploma or higher	87.6%2015-2019	90.8%2020-2024	+3.2 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	2.9×2020-2024	−0.1×	Within the margin of error	82%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4472015-2019	0.4352020-2024	−0.012	Within the margin of error	61%
Median household income	$49,6182015-2019	$65,4452020-2024	+32%	Improved	59%
Poverty rate	12.2%2015-2019	10.5%2020-2024	−1.7 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	27.4%2015-2019	24.3%2020-2024	−3.1 points	Within the margin of error	74%
Rent-burdened households	41.4%2015-2019	30.6%2020-2024	−11 points	Within the margin of error	83%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	7.8%2015-2019	5.1%2020-2024	−2.7 points	Within the margin of error	75%

“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 Vinton, Virginia five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Vinton, 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, Vinton, Virginia itself moved +2.7 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

8,056 residents (±49)

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

3,655 households (±284)

Vinton, Virginia
Virginia share

Under $25k16%†587
$25k–50k19%†690
$50k–75k22%

Homes

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

Owners and renters

3,655 households (±284)

Vinton, Virginia
Virginia share

Own59%2,146
Rent41%1,509

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

3,910 workers (±423)

Vinton, Virginia
Virginia share

Drive alone79%3,099
Carpool4.6%†178
Public transit0.5%†21

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 Roanoke County, the county holding most of Vinton's residents.

Roanoke County has 2,145 employer establishments, 221 for every 10,000 residents (0.89× the US rate of 248; 0.91× Virginia's), with 31,143 paid employees at an average annual pay of $50,328. The Census Bureau also counts 7,102 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,145; 7,102 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 221; US 248 · Virginia 241
Paid employees: 31,143
Average annual pay: $50,328; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	211	21.7	1.04×About typical	2,473	$61,087	367
Restaurants and other eating places	126	13	0.71×Fewer than typical	2,375	$21,891	32
Specialty trade contractors	121	12.4	0.80×About typical	629	$57,539	406
Lessors of real estate	120	12.3	1.00×About typical	371	$42,763	965
Religious organizations	82	8.4	1.52×More than typical	614	$24,599	—
Services to buildings and dwellings	68	7	1.04×About typical	345	$34,574	396
Construction of buildings	65	6.7	0.88×About typical	250	$53,404	169
Insurance agencies and brokerages	63	6.5	1.48×More than typical	350	$82,120	173
Personal care services	63	6.5	1.36×More than typical	163	$29,497	322
Offices of other health practitioners	60	6.2	1.02×About typical	340	$39,865	166
Offices of physicians	59	6.1	0.94×About typical	693	$98,543	124
Management, scientific and technical consulting	58	6	0.89×About typical	330	$95,400	273

Rank places for an industry Open Roanoke County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 97,219 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 -$18.8K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Vinton, Virginia: -$2.34 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: -$18.8K
Per resident: -$2.34; 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

MCCRAY GROUP VENTURES LLC$6,4020.0%
FAR GOVERNMENT, INC.-$25.2K0.0%

Spending by fiscal year

12.1KFY2018
0FY2019
-487.1FY2020
161.5KFY2023
7.9KFY2024
-3.8KFY2025
-18.8KFY2026

What was bought

Other equipment & supplies

Top industries (NAICS)

Building equipment contractors · 2382$6,4020.0%

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

Vinton, Virginia's figures are part of those of Roanoke County, VA ($334.2M 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: Vinton is mostly in Roanoke County.

See federal money in Roanoke 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.

Vinton, Virginia is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Roanoke County96100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Roanoke, VA73

Other cities and towns in Roanoke 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/5181280

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends