County Maps US

Wise County, Virginia

A county in Virginia, ranked 49 of 133 by population.

CountyFIPS 51195

Within Virginia
Wise County, highlighted, with the areas around it. Boundaries generalised from the 2025 Census cartographic boundary file; neighbour fills carry no data. The dot marks Wise, the county seat, located via the 2025 Census Gazetteer.

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Population
34,824
-1,248 (-3.5%) since 2020
Land area
403.4
square miles. A further 0.5% of the total area is water
Population density
86.3
people per square mile, computed rather than published
County seat
Wise
Seat of county government.
Established
1856
169 years ago
Largest city
Big Stone Gap town
Population 5,102.

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025; Wikidata (CC0), Wikidata. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

Satellite view

Aerial imagery of Wise County with its boundary drawn on top. A map shows you the shape; this shows you what is inside it, and which side of the line a place falls on.

Aerial view of Wise County, Virginia from the USGS National Map, with its boundary outlined
Imagery: USGS National Map, USGS Imagery Only, public domain, requested from USGS by your browser when you reach this point on the page, at 800 by 708 pixels. The boundary is the 2025 Census cartographic boundary file, reprojected to Web Mercator to match the imagery. You can also open the USGS National Map viewer.

Where Wise County ranks

Position among the 133 counties and independent cities of Virginia, and among all 3,144 US counties and county-equivalents. Computed from the figures on this page.

MeasureValueIn VirginiaNationally
Population34,82449th of 1331,318th of 3,144
Land area403.4 sq mi44th of 1332,508th of 3,144
Population density86.3 per sq mi77th of 1331,026th of 3,144
Median household income$52,943115th of 1332,603rd of 3,143

Full data for Wise County

Every figure below is attributed to the Census Bureau product it came from, with the vintage of that product.
MeasureValueSource and vintage
Population34,824Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
Population in 202036,072Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
2020 estimates base?36,126Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
Land area403.4 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Water area2.0 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Total area405.5 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Population density?86.3 per sq miComputed: Vintage 2025 estimates divided by 2025 Gazetteer land area
Median household income$52,943American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median home value$118,600American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median age41.8American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Households13,905American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Housing units16,627American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025; US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates, released 29 January 2026. Population density is computed here, not published: it divides the Vintage 2025 population estimate by the 2025 Gazetteer land area, which are two different Census products. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

How the population changed

The Census Bureau publishes the components behind an estimate, not just the total. For the year to July 2025:

Births minus deaths
-218
323 births, 541 deaths
Net migration
+5
More people moved in than moved out.

Source: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

The 8 areas bordering Wise County

Ordered by the length of the border actually shared, which the Census Bureau publishes in its county adjacency file and which no other county reference presents.

Bordering areaStateShared borderPopulation
Letcher CountyKentucky31 mi19,952
Scott CountyVirginia28 mi21,200
Dickenson CountyVirginia26 mi13,236
Norton cityVirginia19 mi3,477
Russell CountyVirginia16 mi25,332
Lee CountyVirginia9.9 mi21,642
Harlan CountyKentucky7.6 mi24,725
Pike CountyKentucky0.8 mi54,721

Source: US Census Bureau, County Adjacency File, 2025 County Adjacency File, released 15 September 2025. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

All 133 counties and independent cities of Virginia

Open the interactive Virginia county map, or jump straight to any of them.

Data on this page last rebuilt 30 August 2026. How these figures are produced.