Bristol is a medium-sized city located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 16,316 people and seven associated neighborhoods, Bristol is the 54th largest community in Virginia.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Bristol is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Bristol is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Bristol who work in sales jobs (14.34%), office and administrative support (9.57%), and food service (8.43%). Also of interest is that Bristol has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 11.57% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. One of the benefits of Bristol is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 19.08 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.The citizens of Bristol are slightly better educated than the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns, with 24.83% of adults in Bristol having a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. The per capita income in Bristol in 2022 was $31,284, which is lower middle income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $125,136 for a family of four. However, Bristol contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Bristol is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Bristol home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Bristol residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Bristol include English, Irish, German, Scottish, and Scots-Irish. The most common language spoken in Bristol is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
