Counties / Virginia / Louisa County

Louisa County, VA

FIPS 51109 · population 39,980 · outside every metro area

$425k
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
$425k
▲ 2.7% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$2,217
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.3%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,247
market rent is 1.78x 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.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+55.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.7%FHFA HPI2025+6.0%
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$315k
Surveyed gross rent$1,220
Rent burden 30%+56.6%
Median year built1995
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
15.3%vacant
18,366estimated housing units
Occupied tenure17.8% renter
owner 82.2%renter 17.8%
Structure mix86.3% single-family
Single-family 86.3%20+ units 0.8%Mobile home 9.8%Other 3.1%
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 jobs10,327▲ 1.2% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,070annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,231▲ 6.6% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities42.3% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+1.2%WEEKLY WAGE+6.6%Trade, transportation, and utilities42.3%
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

Louisa County’s underwriting tension is a rent screen against flood and operating-cost uncertainty: the county may merit investigation for buyers who can validate a specific home’s insurance, condition, and leasing, but it warrants caution for buyers leaning on appreciation or payment-standard proxies. County medians and listing indicators can frame a screen; they cannot establish the economics of a particular parcel.

02Housing economics

At Zillow’s 2026-06 county observation, median home value was $425,090 and median asking rent was $2,217 per month; the supplied gross yield is 6.26% before costs. The rent is measured asking rent, whereas the two-bedroom HUD FMR payment standard is $1,247, so it is not a substitute rent estimate. The effective property-tax rate is 0.60%, with $1,883 median annual tax, a carrying cost rather than a full expense budget. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 6.00% in its 2025 annual data, versus Zillow’s 2.73% value change. Those different methods and vintages point in the same direction but cannot be averaged or treated as an equivalent interval.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s matching 2026-06 MLS data show a 22.79% price-reduced share and 44.37% pending-to-active ratio; inventory increased as marketing time shortened. These are active-listing supply and concession measures, not closed sales or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return data show more households moving in than out and higher average AGI for in-movers. Investor participation was 6.20% across 726 purchases, a minority that does not establish investor-driven competition. QCEW shows annual covered workplace employment and average weekly wage increasing; trade, transportation, and utilities is its largest disclosed private supersector, not the county economy or resident labor market.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled annual climate loss equals 0.12% of building value and the named dominant hazard is inland flood; this is a modeled ratio, not a parcel loss estimate. Published evidence lacks parcel flood-zone and insurance information, property condition and repair needs, submarket closed-sale comparables, rent rolls, vacancy, management, utilities, financing terms, and transaction-level buyer data. Those gaps prevent a net-yield, cash-flow, replacement-cost, or exit-price conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Louisa 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
Louisa town2.4KBlue Ridge Shores CDP918Mineral town555
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

3 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Louisa townIncorporated place
    2,435
  2. 02
    Blue Ridge Shores CDPCensus-designated place
    918
  3. 03
    Mineral townIncorporated place
    555

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

0.119% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.60%

$1,883 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+354

1,462 in · 1,108 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$3,645

$83,635 arriving · $79,990 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors6.2%

45 of 726 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 listings284▲ 5.4% year over year
Median days on market54▼ 7.0% year over year
Listings price-reduced22.8%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 2.0% year over year

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

Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Flood insurance, mitigation, repair, vacancy, or management costs could eliminate the pre-cost gross-yield case.
  2. County asking-rent and median-value measures may not match the target property’s leaseability or purchase price.
  3. MLS, migration, and covered-workplace indicators may not translate into completed sales, tenant demand, or resale liquidity.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can HUD two-bedroom FMR be used as the county’s asking-rent estimate?

No. It is a HUD payment standard, while the record separately publishes a median asking-rent measure.

Does FHFA HPI represent a dollar home value?

No. It is a repeat-transaction appreciation index and should not be treated as a home-price level.

What labor-market population does QCEW measure?

Annual average covered jobs at workplaces in the county, not resident employment, unemployment, or a forecast.