Radford city, VA

Home values #

Typical home $265,800 (Sep 2026), +3.5% over one year, +20.4% over five

• 61st pct · 1,172nd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 35th pct · 86th of 133 Virginia counties · median $309,231
• 50th pct · 3rd of 5 counties in the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford metro · median $265,800

Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), typical value of homes in the 35th to 65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted; a model estimate of value, not a sale price. Data through Zillow Research.

Rents #

Typical rent $1,248/mo (Sep 2026), +3.8% over one year; price-to-rent 17.7

• 25th pct · 1,018th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 10th pct · 64th of 71 Virginia counties · median $1,806
• counties in the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford metro: only 3 of counties in the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford metro published this metric; fewer than 5 is too few to rank

Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), smoothed, all homes and multifamily; price-to-rent = typical home / (typical rent × 12).

What the typical home costs to carry #

Principal and interest of $1,472 a month on $265,800 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,325 a month: 34.0% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $265,800 × 80% = $212,640, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,472/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $998 × 52 / 12 = $4,325) = 34% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $265,800 / ($998 × 52) = 5.1
• price-to-rent = $265,800 / ($1,248 × 12) = 17.7

The wage is one covered job’s average, not a household’s income, so this is the share of a single paycheque and not a mortgage underwriting ratio.

Estimate. Principal and interest on the typical home with 20% down over 30 years at this week's Freddie Mac average rate; compared with the average weekly wage of all jobs covered by unemployment insurance in the area (BLS QCEW), which is pay per job, not household income.

Jobs & wages #

6,604 jobs at 386 employers (2026 Q1); +1.3% jobs and -1.2% average weekly wage over the year

• 44th pct · 1,783rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 42nd pct · 77th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
• 50th pct · 3rd of 5 counties in the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford metro · median 6,604

BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, all ownerships, total covered employment in the quarter's third month; over-the-year changes as published. Suppressed cells stay blank.

Drought #

No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)

Sites found: 5, searched within 0 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 0 km away are not.

US Drought Monitor current week; the highest class of any polygon containing the point.

Reservoirs #

2 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 2, searched within 150 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 150 km away are not.

Σ(capacity × percent full) / Σ capacity over TWDB reservoirs within 150 km. Texas only; elsewhere USGS reservoir elevation/storage is listed without a capacity to normalise by.

Stream gauges #

113 gauges · 0 flooding · 27 with quality panels averaging 99 % · 26 stale

Sites found: 113, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest readings screened against EPA freshwater criteria (DO ≥ 5 mg/L, pH 6.5–9, conductance, turbidity, temperature); NWS flood categories where a NWPS gauge is co-located.

Groundwater #

7 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 7, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest daily water levels. A single latest reading says where the table is, not which way it is moving; select a well for its 365-day trace.

Water stress #

low (0.00)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.01 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$376.9 m in deposits at 6 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,483, highly concentrated. $209.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (contracts $126.4 m, direct payments $83.4 m), $31,776 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 2,483 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 37.2² + 24.0² + 15.1² + … (2 more) = 2,483

FDIC Summary of Deposits: deposits at every insured office as of June 30, annual; HHI is the sum of squared county deposit shares (DOJ 1995 bank merger screen: 1000 / 1800). USAspending: obligations by place of performance for the latest complete federal fiscal year (Oct 1 to Sep 30), what agencies committed, not what they paid out; recipients are legal entities. Per-job divides obligations by BLS QCEW covered employment.

Federal obligations #

USAspending place-of-performance obligations for FY2026, by awarding agency.

That is $31,776 per covered job, against 6,604 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $209.9 m / 6,604 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $31,776

USAspending obligations are recorded where the work is performed, so a prime award performed here is counted here even when the recipient is headquartered elsewhere. Recipients are legal entities, never people.

National context, not this county #

These are United States, single-gauge, single-state and port series. None of them is keyed to this county.

The indicator registry has no county-keyed series and no geographic selection: every entry is national, a named gauge, a single state or a port. They are here as the backdrop the county's own numbers move against, and they are never this county's readings.

What changed #

Radford city, VA: 7 findings, 1 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchRadford city, VA's average weekly wage is -1.2% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: jobs.yoy.avgWeeklyWage = -1.2 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. noteRadford city, VA's covered employment was 1.3% higher than the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q1, on BLS QCEW's published over-the-year change.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +1.3 % = BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change for 2026 Q1, as published
   • the newest QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, so no move from one level to another is printed

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published

3. noteRadford city, VA's average weekly wage was 1.2% lower than the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q1, on BLS QCEW's published over-the-year change.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -1.2 % = BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change for 2026 Q1, as published
   • the newest QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, so no move from one level to another is printed

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published

4. noteRadford city, VA's typical asking rent of $1,248 ranks 64th of 71 Virginia counties, against a median of $1,806.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 10 on the 0-to-100 scale across 71 Virginia counties that published rent.latest

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

5. noteThe next Unemployment rate (BLS Employment Situation, monthly) covering Radford city, VA is due between 2026-10-30 and 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.

   Show the arithmetic

   • window = 2026-10-30 to 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern

   estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date

Read all 7 findings in the full brief

Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.