Counties / West Virginia / Calhoun County

Calhoun County, WV

FIPS 54013 · population 6,048 · outside every metro area

$105k
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
$105k
▲ 14.4% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$473
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$869
the Section 8 payment 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.

One annual series is unavailable
FHFA five-year cumulativen/anot annualized · through n/a
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+14.4%FHFA HPIperiod n/an/a
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$101k
Surveyed gross rent$473
Rent burden 30%+44.8%
Median year built1975
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
20.7%vacant
3,185estimated housing units
Occupied tenure12.9% renter
owner 87.1%renter 12.9%
Structure mix72.3% single-family
Single-family 72.3%20+ units 1.2%Mobile home 24.5%Other 2.0%
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 jobs1,205▲ 2.6% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments148annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,077▲ 8.6% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services34.1% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+2.6%WEEKLY WAGE+8.6%Education and health services34.1%
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

Calhoun County is a low-entry-price but unproven-income case. Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value was $104,959, up 14.37% year over year. That combination merits investigation by operators able to verify unit rents, flood exposure and tenant depth before bidding, but caution for buyers needing demonstrated yield or broad resale liquidity. No FHFA annual HPI observation is published, so a repeat-transaction index cannot corroborate or challenge Zillow’s direction.

02Housing economics

Measured market rent is not published; therefore gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $869 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not a market asking-rent estimate, and cannot supply the missing income. The effective property-tax rate is 0.42%; this is a carrying-cost input alongside, rather than a measure of, the observed home value. The modeled climate-loss ratio is 0.23% of building value per year, with inland flood named as the dominant hazard; neither identifies a parcel’s insurability or actual loss.

03Demand & competition

The 2025 QCEW record shows 1,205 annual covered jobs at county workplaces and a $1,077 average weekly covered-worker wage; it is neither resident employment nor an unemployment measure. Education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector, representing 34.14% of private covered jobs, not the entire economy. At the same 2026-06 label, Realtor.com’s MLS record had 14 active listings, a 25.93% pending-to-active ratio, and 75 median days on market. These are visible asking-market supply and marketing-time indicators, not closed-sale prices or independent proof of buyer demand.

04Risk & next checks

Tax-return migration showed a net outflow of 15 households, while incoming movers’ average AGI was $650 below that of outgoing movers. One investor purchase among 21 total purchases suggests limited observed investor participation, but the small transaction base restricts interpretation of buyer competition. The central next checks are property-level achieved rents and lease-up evidence, flood-zone and insurance quotes, tax assessments, and closed-sale comparables; absent rent prevents yield underwriting, while absent FHFA and parcel-level hazard data prevent a cross-method price check and a site-specific risk conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Calhoun County

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
Grantsville town401
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
    Grantsville townIncorporated place
    401

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

0.231% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.42%

$426 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-15

76 in · 91 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$650

$38,526 arriving · $39,176 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors4.8%

1 of 21 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 listings14▼ 6.9% year over year
Median days on market75▼ 23.8% year over year
Listings price-reduced9.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 28.4% year over year

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

No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Achieved rents may not support carrying costs or the required return.
  2. Parcel-level flood exposure or insurance availability may differ materially from the county-level hazard signal.
  3. Small listing and purchase counts may make visible market and investor indicators unstable.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is a market-rent-based gross yield available from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD Fair Market Rent cannot substitute for market asking rent.

Does the record provide FHFA confirmation of Zillow’s price direction?

No. An FHFA annual repeat-transaction HPI observation is not published.

What does the QCEW employment measure represent?

It measures annual covered jobs at workplaces located in the county, not resident employment or unemployment.