Short Pump is a census-designated place (CDP) in Henrico County, Virginia, United States. It is a suburb of Richmond. The population was 30,626 at the 2020 census.
The original village of Short Pump was located at the intersection of Three Chopt Road (formerly known as Three Notched Trail), Richmond Turnpike and Pouncey Tract Road. The area first centered around a local tavern that was expanded by Col. Robert H. Saunders beginning in 1814. According to local legend, it was named for the short handled water pump for stagecoach horses to drink from, which was located beneath the porch of the tavern, though there is some debate over the name's origin. This area was on the principal route between Richmond and Charlottesville, as well as other towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Thomas Jefferson, the Earl Cornwallis, the Marquis de Lafayette, General Peter Muhlenberg, Stonewall Jackson and Ulric Dahlgren all visited this area.
The crossroads was officially named Short Pump by 1853, according to a Henrico County map found in the Virginia Historical Society.
Short Pump is noted for its shopping centers, restaurants, skating rink, and bowling alley. The area is an edge city of Richmond.
By the 1990s and 2000s, Short Pump transformed from a rural crossroads to an edge-city, a concentration of development on the outskirts of traditional urban areas. The Short Pump Town Center, a mega-mall, proved key to this transformation.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.33%, is water. Short Pump is bordered to the west by Goochland County, to the north by the Wyndham CDP, to the east by the Innsbrook CDP, and to the south by non-CDP land and by Tuckahoe.
| 46.6| 50.7| 59.3| 70| 77.2| 84.9| 88.3| 86.9| 80.6| 70.3| 60.3| 49.5 <!--highs-->
| 24.8| 26.9| 33.1| 42.3| 51.2| 60.7| 65.1| 63.9| 56.2| 44.5| 35.4| 27.6 <!--lows-->
|3.1|2.9|3.8|3.3|3.9|3.5|4.4|4.0|3.7|3.3|3.7|3.3 <!--rain-->
Demographics
Short Pump was first listed as a census designated place in the 2000 U.S. census.
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2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Short Pump had a population of 30,626. The median age was 37.4 years. 26.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 11.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 90.7 males age 18 and over.
99.8% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.2% lived in rural areas.
There were 11,396 households in Short Pump, of which 41.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 60.2% were married-couple households, 13.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 22.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 22.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.