United States › Virginia › Amherst County
Amherst County, Virginia
5,400 Black residents · 17.2% of the county · ranked 51 of 133 in Virginia by Black population
In Amherst County, Virginia, the 2020 Census counted 31,307 people, 5,400 of them Black alone. At 17.2%, Amherst County's Black share stands against the state's 18.6% — the comparison this entry is built around.
Civic Snapshot
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total population, 2020 | 31,307 |
| Black residents (alone), 2020 | 5,400 |
| Black share of the county, 2020 | 17.2% |
| Rank by Black population among Virginia counties | 51 of 133 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Redistricting File (Public Law 94-171), Table P1 (race). Trend: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Redistricting File (Public Law 94-171), Table P1.
Population Trend
In 2010 Amherst County counted 6,148 Black residents; in 2020 it counted 5,400. The population declined by 12.2% across the decade, and the Black share in Amherst County moved from 19.0% to 17.2%.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Redistricting File (Public Law 94-171), Table P1 (race). Trend: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Redistricting File (Public Law 94-171), Table P1.
The Record
Amherst County is one of 133 counties and county equivalents the Census Bureau counts in Virginia. Together they hold the state's 1.6 million Black residents, and Amherst County's 5,400 of them give it rank 51 of 133 in that order. The county is the gazetteer's middle geography — larger than the places inside it, smaller than the state frame — and the figures printed here for Amherst County are the published redistricting counts, reproduced as released.
Institutions
Black Amherst County's institutions live at the scale of its towns and communities, and the gazetteer records them there, place by place. The Amherst County page holds the frame around them — 31,307 people in all, 5,400 of them Black — and the trend that runs through both censuses.