Wise County is a county in Virginia, United States, in the far southwestern corner of the state, wedged against the Kentucky line in the coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains. It had a population of 36,130 at the 2020 census and covers 405 square miles (1,050 km2), of which 403 square miles (1,040 km2) is land and 2 square miles (5.2 km2) is water, centred near 36\u00b058\u2032N 82\u00b037\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Wise, the county seat, is one of six incorporated towns; its postal code is 24293. The county also holds eight census-designated places and several dozen small unincorporated communities and former coal camps. Wise County lies in the Eastern time zone.<\/p>\n
Wise County has six incorporated towns — all of them small, none reaching city status — plus eight federally recognized census-designated places (CDPs) and a long tail of unincorporated coal-camp communities that never organized as towns. The independent city of Norton sits entirely enclaved within the county’s borders but is governed separately and is not part of Wise County. The table below marks incorporated towns as “Town,” CDPs as “CDP,” and everything else as “Unincorp.”<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wise<\/td>\n | Town · seat<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 24293<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Appalachia<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 24216<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Big Stone Gap<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 24219<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Coeburn<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 24230<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pound<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 24279<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| St. Paul<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 24283<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Big Stone Gap East<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 24219 (shared)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| East Stone Gap<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 24246<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dunbar<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Osaka<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Riverview<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Stonega<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Tacoma<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| University of Virginia’s College at Wise<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Andover<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 24215<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Arno<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Banner<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Blackwood<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Clear Creek<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cracker Neck<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cranes Nest<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Derby<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dooley<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dorchester<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dwina<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Esserville<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Exeter<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Franco<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Gilley<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Glamorgan<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Imboden<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Inman<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Linden<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lipps<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Needmore<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pardee<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Roaring Fork<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Roda<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Toms Creek<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Norton, though physically surrounded by Wise County on most sides, has been an independent city since 1954 and is a separate jurisdiction with its own government — it is not one of Wise County’s towns even though local addresses often use a Norton ZIP.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nMost of the smaller unincorporated communities and coal camps share a ZIP code with the nearest town rather than having their own.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nWise County sits high in the Cumberland Mountains section of the Appalachian Plateau, where ridgelines run northeast to southwest and hollows carry the region’s coal camps. High Knob, at over 4,100 feet, is the highest point in the county and one of the highest in Virginia west of the Blue Ridge; Powell Valley and the Guest River, Pound River, and North Fork of the Pound River drain the terrain toward the Big Sandy and Clinch river systems. Most of the county’s flat land is confined to narrow creek bottoms, which is why nearly every town strings out along a single road and a single stream.<\/p>\n Wise County borders Dickenson County<\/a> to the northeast, Russell County<\/a> to the east, Scott County<\/a> to the south, and Lee County<\/a> to the southwest, all in Virginia. Across the Kentucky state line it borders Pike County (north) and Letcher County (northwest), plus Harlan County (west). The independent city of Norton is an enclave inside the county’s boundary and is not counted as a bordering jurisdiction.<\/p>\n Wise County recorded a population of 36,130 at the 2020 census, giving it a density of about 89.7 people per square mile (34.6 per km2). Big Stone Gap and Wise are the county’s most populous towns, followed by Coeburn. Median household income in the county runs well below the Virginia median of $89,931, a gap that traces directly to the decline of the coal industry that once anchored the local economy.<\/p>\n Coal mining built Wise County and still shapes it, though far fewer people work the mines than a generation ago. Today the county’s largest employers include the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, a public liberal arts college in the town of Wise; two of the Commonwealth’s highest-security state correctional facilities, Red Onion State Prison and Wallens Ridge State Prison, both opened in the late 1990s; and Norton Community Hospital, which serves the wider region from the neighboring independent city. Outdoor recreation around High Knob and the Spearhead Trails off-road system has grown into a smaller but steady part of the local economy.<\/p>\n Wise County was formed in 1856 from parts of Lee, Scott, and Russell Counties and named for Henry A. Wise, then governor of Virginia. Coal mining took hold in the 1880s as railroads reached the coalfields, and company towns sprang up through the early 20th century to house miners and their families — many of the unincorporated communities listed above began as those camps. In the late 1990s the state built Red Onion and Wallens Ridge, its two supermax prisons, in the county, a deliberate economic-development response to the collapse of coal employment.<\/p>\n US Route 23, US Route 58, and US Route 421 are the main highways through Wise County.<\/p>\n Lonesome Pine Airport near Wise handles general aviation; the nearest commercial airport is Tri-Cities Airport near Bristol\/Blountville, Tennessee, roughly 70 miles away.<\/p>\n Where is Wise County, Virginia?<\/strong> What is the population of Wise County?<\/strong> How big is Wise County?<\/strong> What is the county seat of Wise County?<\/strong> How many towns are in Wise County?<\/strong> What ZIP codes are in Wise County?<\/strong> |