Harrisonburg

About Harrisonburg

Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It is also the county seat of the surrounding Rockingham County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. At the 2020 census, the population was 51,814. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Harrisonburg with Rockingham County for statistical purposes into the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 126,562 in 2011.

Harrisonburg is home to James Madison University (JMU), a public research university with an enrollment of over 20,000 students, and Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), a private, Mennonite-affiliated liberal arts university, with an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students. Although the city has no historical association with President James Madison, JMU was nonetheless named in his honor as Madison College in 1938 and renamed as James Madison University in 1977. EMU largely owes its existence to the sizable Mennonite population in the Shenandoah Valley, to which many Pennsylvania Dutch settlers arrived beginning in the mid-18th century in search of rich, unsettled farmland.

The city has become a bastion of ethnic and linguistic diversity in recent years. Over 1,900 refugees have been settled in Harrisonburg since 2002. As of 2014, Hispanics or Latinos of any race make up 19% of the city's population. Harrisonburg City Public Schools (HCPS) students speak 55 languages in addition to English, with Spanish, Arabic, and Kurdish being the most common languages spoken. Over one-third of HCPS students are English as a second language (ESL) learners. Language learning software company Rosetta Stone was founded in Harrisonburg in 1992, and the multilingual "Welcome Your Neighbors" yard sign originated in Harrisonburg in 2016.

Text: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Harrisonburg weather: 7-day forecast

Source: National Weather Service (NOAA).

Live webcams in Harrisonburg

Webcams: Windy.com

Living in Harrisonburg

Median household income

$62,254

Median home value

$299,100

Median rent

$1,184/mo

Median age

25

Map of Harrisonburg

Tap any street on the map to see it in Street View below. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Harrisonburg Street View

Drag the image to look around and tap the arrows on the ground to move. If it says there is no imagery, tap a nearby street on the map above.

Harrisonburg, VA population

Harrisonburg had 51,814 residents in the 2020 Census.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Decennial Census.

Harrisonburg at a glance

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (Gazetteer, ZCTA), USGS GNIS, Wikidata.

Towns near Harrisonburg

• Belmont Estates2.8 mi W
• Massanetta Springs3.5 mi SE
• Dayton3.9 mi W
• Keezletown4.4 mi E
• Linville5.9 mi N
• Bridgewater5.9 mi SW
• Mount Crawford6.3 mi SW
• Singers Glen7.9 mi N
• Massanutten8.1 mi E
• McGaheysville8.8 mi SE
• Port Republic11.0 mi S
• Weyers Cave11.0 mi S

Straight-line distance between town centers.

Frequently asked questions about Harrisonburg