These Are The 10 Most Boring Places In Virginia


We used data and science to identify which places in Virginia are total snoozefests.

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This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

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There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in Virginia that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.

Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in VA are so lucky.

Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within Virginia’s borders. You know the places: the ones where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.

Like Poquoson, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of Virginia. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Poquoson. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in Virginia as well.

Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement:

  1. Poquoson
  2. Bluefield
  3. Smithfield
  4. Wytheville
  5. Richlands
  6. Woodstock
  7. Bedford
  8. Suffolk
  9. Abingdon
  10. Galax

Before you get all upset if your city’s name is on the list, rest assured that we didn’t use personal opinion when it comes to what classifies a city or town as “boring” or “exciting”. We crunched actual numbers to figure out which towns are statistically more boring.

And by the way, where are the most exciting cities in Virginia according to science? They would be Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Radford (believe it or not), Harrisonburg and Richmond. That sounds about right.

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How we determined the boring cities in the Old Dominion

To figure out how boring a place is, we rely on a complex algorithm that factors in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people. We used the U.S. Census data to gather the information. Here are some of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring:

  • % of Population Over 35 (higher is more boring)
  • % of Married Household (higher is more boring)
  • Average Age (higher is more boring)
  • % of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)
  • % of Households with People Over 65 (higher is more boring)
  • Population density (lower is more boring)

Then, our algorithm generates several lists of the cities that have plenty of residents with high rankings in all of these categories. After a crunching of the numbers, a list of all of the cities magically appears listing them from most boring to most exciting.

For this list, we used every Virginia city that qualified for our rankings based on having a population of at least 5,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.

Grab your rocker and hold on.

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1. Poquoson

Boring Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 12,117
Average Age: 43.6
Married Households: 58.4%
Households With Kids: 32.1%

2. Bluefield

Boring Virginia

Source: Public Domain

Population: 5,424
Average Age: 42.9
Married Households: 63.5%
Households With Kids: 31.2%

3. Smithfield

Boring Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 8,126
Average Age: 43.2
Married Households: 60.3%
Households With Kids: 35.2%

4. Wytheville

Boring Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 8,225
Average Age: 48.2
Married Households: 45.5%
Households With Kids: 20.3%

5. Richlands

Boring Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 5,759
Average Age: 41.0
Married Households: 52.0%
Households With Kids: 33.5%

6. Woodstock

Boring Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 5,131
Average Age: 39.2
Married Households: 62.5%
Households With Kids: 32.4%

7. Bedford

Boring Virginia

Source: Public Domain

Population: 6,052
Average Age: 46.5
Married Households: 44.7%
Households With Kids: 29.3%

8. Suffolk

Boring Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 84,842
Average Age: 38.1
Married Households: 51.2%
Households With Kids: 37.6%

9. Abingdon

Boring Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 8,186
Average Age: 40.9
Married Households: 44.8%
Households With Kids: 30.6%

10. Galax

Boring Virginia

Source: wikipedia

Population: 6,977
Average Age: 43.1
Married Households: 44.1%
Households With Kids: 26.4%

Now That You’re Asleep

On a list like this, there are usually no winners, but since Virginia isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States, the cities on this list can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.

Just not these places.

Detailed List Of Boring Cities In Virginia

City Rank Population Average Age Married Households Households With Kids
Poquoson 1 12,117 43.6 58.4% 32.1%
Bluefield 2 5,424 42.9 63.5% 31.2%
Smithfield 3 8,126 43.2 60.3% 35.2%
Wytheville 4 8,225 48.2 45.5% 20.3%
Richlands 5 5,759 41.0 52.0% 33.5%
Woodstock 6 5,131 39.2 62.5% 32.4%
Bedford 7 6,052 46.5 44.7% 29.3%
Suffolk 8 84,842 38.1 51.2% 37.6%
Abingdon 9 8,186 40.9 44.8% 30.6%
Galax 10 6,977 43.1 44.1% 26.4%
Chesapeake 11 225,597 36.6 53.5% 39.4%
Vienna 12 15,958 40.0 61.9% 44.2%
Bristol 13 17,713 41.7 45.9% 28.7%
Emporia 14 5,773 42.6 37.6% 31.8%
Covington 15 5,880 44.3 39.6% 26.7%
South Boston 16 8,104 41.9 32.0% 27.9%
Martinsville 17 13,808 43.5 36.9% 29.3%
Danville 18 42,996 42.4 40.4% 26.9%
Colonial Heights 19 17,481 41.1 46.5% 29.4%
Buena Vista 20 6,699 37.6 43.4% 34.4%
Franklin 21 8,539 39.9 40.9% 29.2%
Staunton 22 23,989 42.3 42.8% 23.8%
Waynesboro 23 21,099 38.7 46.7% 30.1%
Marion 24 5,933 43.3 38.4% 21.1%
Warrenton 25 9,690 40.1 46.5% 31.9%
Pulaski 26 9,048 41.6 42.4% 27.0%
Strasburg 27 6,419 39.5 47.6% 30.4%
Salem 28 24,950 40.1 46.8% 28.8%
Fairfax 29 23,027 39.4 53.6% 30.8%
Vinton 30 8,102 39.7 46.5% 29.7%
Front Royal 31 14,589 38.6 44.2% 30.1%
Falls Church 32 12,731 37.0 52.6% 35.7%
Purcellville 33 8,060 33.6 59.3% 59.1%
Virginia Beach 34 442,151 34.9 50.8% 35.4%
Bridgewater 35 5,745 30.0 45.2% 30.0%
Leesburg 36 44,612 33.5 57.3% 48.1%
Culpeper 37 16,720 33.4 47.7% 40.3%
Christiansburg 38 21,170 33.6 50.3% 31.5%
Herndon 39 23,791 34.5 54.9% 39.9%
Petersburg 40 32,326 39.5 29.9% 25.9%
Big Stone Gap 41 5,587 33.6 33.1% 43.9%
Hopewell 42 22,429 36.2 35.5% 31.0%
Manassas 43 39,317 32.4 50.9% 42.0%
Manassas Park 44 15,125 32.3 51.7% 44.2%
Hampton 45 136,957 35.5 43.3% 30.4%
Portsmouth 46 95,901 35.2 38.8% 32.3%
Roanoke 47 97,355 38.2 38.0% 25.5%
Newport News 48 181,025 32.5 42.1% 33.4%
Ashland 49 7,231 35.0 35.3% 23.2%
Farmville 50 8,519 21.8 21.2% 33.1%
Dumfries 51 5,050 30.1 44.8% 40.2%
Winchester 52 26,587 35.6 39.9% 27.5%
Lynchburg 53 76,467 29.5 37.2% 28.4%
Lexington 54 7,026 21.6 21.4% 23.6%
Williamsburg 55 14,579 24.0 27.0% 17.9%
Alexandria 56 143,684 35.7 43.7% 21.2%
Norfolk 57 244,090 29.8 34.2% 31.8%
Fredericksburg 58 25,931 28.8 32.4% 29.5%
Richmond 59 207,878 32.6 26.3% 24.5%
Harrisonburg 60 49,926 22.9 29.0% 27.6%
Radford 61 16,705 22.1 24.7% 21.8%
Charlottesville 62 43,663 28.5 29.9% 20.5%
Blacksburg 63 42,864 21.8 21.9% 16.7%

About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.