Radford is an independent city in Virginia, United States. The population was 15,859 at the 2000 census. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Radford with neighboring Montgomery county for statistical purposes. Radford and the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg are the three principal municipalities of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses those municipalities and all of Montgomery County for statistical purposes.
Radford University is located here. The Radford Arsenal is also located near the city of Radford.
Geography
Radford is located at (37.127585, -80.569523).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.4 km² (10.2 mi²). 25.4 km² (9.8 mi²) of it is land and 1.0 km² (0.4 mi²) of it (3.63%) is water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,859 people, 5,809 households, and 2,643 families residing in the city. The population density was 623.5/km² (1,615.2/mi²). There were 6,137 housing units at an average density of 241.3/km² (625.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 88.21% White, 8.10% African American, 0.25% Native American, 1.43% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.49% from other races, and 1.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.16% of the population.
There were 5,809 households out of which 18.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.9% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 54.5% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.78.
The age distribution, which is strongly influenced by Radford University, is: 12.9% under the age of 18, 44.0% from 18 to 24, 19.6% from 25 to 44, 14.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 83.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $24,654, and the median income for a family was $46,332. Males had a median income of $33,045 versus $22,298 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,289. About 6.9% of families and 31.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.8% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over. However, traditional measures of poverty can be extremely misleading when applied to a community with a large proportion of university students, such as Radford.
Notable people from Radford
