Buena Vista is a somewhat small city located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 6,581 people and two associated neighborhoods, Buena Vista is the 102nd largest community in Virginia.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 8.40% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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.

Buena Vista is also a college town, where lots of students live while attending area colleges. Because of the high percentage of people living in Buena Vista enrolled in college, Buena Vista has a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards the needs and activities of students.

Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Buena Vista spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 17.98 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.

Being a small city, Buena Vista does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.

The population of Buena Vista overall has a level of education that is slightly above the US average for all US cities and towns of 21.84%. Of adults 25 and older in Buena Vista, 24.73% have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Buena Vista in 2022 was $33,175, which is middle income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $132,700 for a family of four. However, Buena Vista contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Buena Vista is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Buena Vista home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Buena Vista residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Buena Vista include English, German, Irish, Scots-Irish, and French.

The most common language spoken in Buena Vista is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.