Counties / West Virginia / Grant County

Grant County, WV

FIPS 54023 · population 10,983 · outside every metro area

$194k
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
$194k
▲ 2.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$644
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.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+11.9%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.9%FHFA HPI2025−17.6%
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$175k
Surveyed gross rent$644
Rent burden 30%+52.2%
Median year built1980
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
22.5%vacant
5,670estimated housing units
Occupied tenure18.9% renter
owner 81.1%renter 18.9%
Structure mix78.5% single-family
Single-family 78.5%20+ units 0.1%Mobile home 15.4%Other 6.1%
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 jobs3,742▲ 3.4% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments370annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,039▲ 6.0% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services30.8% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+3.4%WEEKLY WAGE+6.0%Education and health services30.8%
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

Grant County presents a valuation-confirmation problem rather than a clear momentum case. Investors considering an acquisition should investigate the difference between Zillow’s county median home value of $193,852 in 2026-06, which was 2.89% higher year over year, and FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI, which declined 17.60% in 2025. Those observations have different vintages and methods, so they cannot be blended. FHFA’s 11.93% five-year change is index movement, not a dollar home value. Cautious buyers need closed comparables and property-condition evidence before treating the Zillow direction as pricing support.

02Housing economics

Rental income underwriting remains incomplete: market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be calculated. The $869 two-bedroom HUD FMR is a payment standard, not measured asking rent, and cannot fill that gap. The supplied 0.31% effective tax rate and $540 median annual property tax frame carrying-cost review but require parcel-level assessment and exemption checks. Inland flood is the dominant hazard; modeled climate loss of 0.21% of building value per year warrants flood-zone, insurance, and deductible review, not a dollar-loss conversion.

03Demand & competition

Demand evidence is mixed and limited. In 2025, QCEW annual covered employment at county workplaces rose 3.40%; education and health services was the largest disclosed private supersector, at 30.78% of private covered jobs. This is neither resident employment nor a demand forecast. Tax-return households showed net migration of 13, with incoming average income $9,818 above outgoing average income; the small count does not identify renter demand. Investors accounted for 6 of 88 purchase mortgages, or 6.82%, indicating observed financed non-owner participation rather than all buyer or landlord competition.

04Risk & next checks

No Realtor.com MLS listing figures are supplied for 2026-06. Consequently, visible active supply, asking-price positioning, marketing time, reductions, and pending activity cannot be underwritten; even if available, they would be listing-market rather than closed-sale evidence. Next checks are current leases and concessions, closed comparable sales, parcel tax bills, flood determinations and insurance quotes, and occupancy or tenant-income evidence. These gaps prevent a defensible rent-supported return, exit-price, and property-specific hazard conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Grant 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
Petersburg city2.4KBayard town299
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

2 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Petersburg cityIncorporated place
    2,384
  2. 02
    Bayard townIncorporated place
    299

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

0.205% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.31%

$540 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+13

191 in · 178 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$9,818

$52,869 arriving · $43,051 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors6.8%

6 of 88 mortgages

investorother financed
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. The divergence between Zillow and FHFA measures may make value assumptions unreliable without local transaction evidence.
  2. Unpublished market asking rent could leave rental income and gross yield unsupported.
  3. County-level inland-flood modeling may not match parcel-specific exposure, insurance terms, or deductibles.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Which price evidence conflicts?

Zillow points upward at its county observation, while FHFA’s separately dated annual repeat-transaction index points downward.

Can gross yield be calculated from the supplied data?

No. Market asking rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be substituted for market rent.

What investor purchase-mortgage share is reported?

The reported investor share is 6.82% of purchase mortgages.