Counties / Virginia / Bristol city

Bristol city, VA

FIPS 51520 · population 16,849 · part of Kingsport, TN

$184k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$184k
▼ 2.1% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,361
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
8.9%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,044
market rent is 1.30x the standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+65.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−2.1%FHFA HPI2025+1.0%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$184k
Surveyed gross rent$801
Rent burden 30%+41.2%
Median year built1967
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
16.4%vacant
8,641estimated housing units
Occupied tenure36.4% renter
owner 63.6%renter 36.4%
Structure mix70.7% single-family
Single-family 70.7%20+ units 4.4%Mobile home 1.6%Other 23.3%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs10,854▲ 4.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments615annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$895▼ 0.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorLeisure and hospitality27.7% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+4.5%WEEKLY WAGE−0.8%Leisure and hospitality27.7%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Bristol city is a yield-led but price-validation case, best suited to investigators who can test property-level condition and rent durability rather than rely on broad appreciation. Zillow’s county median home value was $183,577 in 2026-06, down 2.09% year over year, while the FHFA repeat-transaction HPI increased 0.96% in 2025. These are distinct vintages and methods: they conflict directionally but cannot be blended into one growth rate.

02Housing economics

Median asking rent of $1,361 per month supports the supplied 8.90% gross yield before vacancy, repairs, insurance, financing, and tax; it is measured market rent, not HUD policy rent. The HUD two-bedroom FMR is $1,044, a payment standard rather than an asking-rent estimate. The 0.75% effective property-tax rate and $1,387 median annual tax provide a stated carrying-cost anchor beside the yield, but insurance and operating costs are not published.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS listing market shows more visible seller friction, not verified closed-sale weakness: 99 active listings in 2026-06 were 41.43% higher year over year, median days on market were 55, and 31.49% of listings had price cuts. Positive net migration and higher average income among inbound than outbound moving households are supportive but do not reveal destination or tenure. Investor mortgages were 36 of 210 purchases, or 17.14%, so competition should be checked by property type rather than assumed across the county.

04Risk & next checks

Risk control remains the constraint. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled climate loss equals 0.08% of building value per year; that is a modeled loss ratio, not a property-specific insurance quote. QCEW reports rising annual covered jobs at county workplaces but falling average weekly covered-worker wages; Leisure and hospitality is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the entire economy. Missing property-level flood zone, insurance quote, condition, lease roll, vacancy, operating expenses, financing, and closed-sale comparables prevent a net-yield, resilience, or exit-price conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Bristol city

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Bristol city16.8K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

1 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Bristol cityIncorporated place
    16,849

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.075% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.75%

$1,387 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+67

702 in · 635 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$8,627

$50,454 arriving · $41,827 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors17.1%

36 of 210 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings99▲ 41.4% year over year
Median days on market55▲ 11.2% year over year
Listings price-reduced31.5%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 0.0% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Same metro

The other counties in Kingsport, TN

A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.

CountyPopulationPriceRentYieldHazard
Bristol city16,849$184k$1,3618.9%inland flooding
Sullivan County160,624$264k$1,3436.1%inland flooding
Hawkins County57,964$254k$1,4596.9%inland flooding
Washington County53,926$264k$1,3045.9%inland flooding
Scott County21,479$176kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Achievable rent may differ from the county median asking-rent measure for a specific property.
  2. County migration and investor activity may not apply to the property’s neighborhood or housing type.
  3. Flood insurance, condition, vacancy, and operating costs could materially change the pre-cost yield.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Which rent metric supports the supplied gross yield?

The published median asking rent supports it; HUD Fair Market Rent does not.

Does the listing evidence prove closed-sale price weakness?

No. It describes MLS asking prices, active supply, marketing time, and reductions rather than completed transactions.

What hazard requires address-level diligence?

Inland flood is the dominant disclosed hazard, and the record provides only a county-level modeled loss ratio.