Counties / West Virginia / Mineral County

Mineral County, WV

FIPS 54057 · population 26,854 · part of Cumberland, MD

$203k
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
$203k
▲ 0.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$809
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+41.7%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+0.8%FHFA HPI2025−2.2%
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$180k
Surveyed gross rent$809
Rent burden 30%+49.0%
Median year built1977
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
11.1%vacant
12,509estimated housing units
Occupied tenure19.0% renter
owner 81.0%renter 19.0%
Structure mix77.6% single-family
Single-family 77.6%20+ units 1.1%Mobile home 11.7%Other 9.7%
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 jobs8,599▼ 1.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments734annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,118▲ 6.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing27.5% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.1%WEEKLY WAGE+6.5%Manufacturing27.5%
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

Mineral County’s decision tension is a modest Zillow value gain versus a falling FHFA transaction index, while published rent is absent. Buyers relying on either near-term appreciation or income should investigate rather than treat the county signal as settled. Zillow’s $202,969 county median home value in 2026-06 rose 0.84% year over year, but FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI fell 2.19%. Those are different vintages and methods, not one growth measure; FHFA’s five-year cumulative change was 41.66%.

02Housing economics

Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot fill that gap. The 0.45% effective property-tax rate is a carrying-cost input, but it cannot be mechanically applied to the Zillow median home value; the median annual tax is reported, while assessments and exemptions are not. The supplied Realtor.com observation has no MLS listing price, active-listing, days-on-market, or price-reduction figures, preventing a reading of visible supply, marketing time, and seller concessions.

03Demand & competition

The QCEW series measures annual covered jobs at county workplaces, not resident employment: employment fell 1.09%, while the average covered-worker weekly wage rose 6.48%. Manufacturing was the largest disclosed private supersector, representing 27.51% of private covered jobs; that does not describe the entire economy. Net migration was 16 tax-return households, yet inbound average AGI was $493 below outbound, a limited household-demand signal rather than proof of tenant depth. Reported investor participation was seven of 211 purchases, or 3.32%, so non-owner activity is visible but does not establish the broader buyer mix or competition.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled climate loss equals 0.26% of building value annually; this is a modeled loss rate, not a dollar loss or property-specific outcome. Lease comparables, actual rent rolls, property-level flood-zone status, insurance quotes, tax assessments, and closed-sale comparables are not published. Those gaps prevent a cash-flow, resale-liquidity, and hazard-cost conclusion, especially where county-level evidence may not match an individual asset.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Mineral 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
Keyser city4.9KFort Ashby CDP1.3KCarpendale town1KPiedmont town735Wiley Ford CDP630Ridgeley town239Elk Garden town212Burlington CDP94
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

8 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Keyser cityIncorporated place
    4,857
  2. 02
    Fort Ashby CDPCensus-designated place
    1,283
  3. 03
    Carpendale townIncorporated place
    1,035
  4. 04
    Piedmont townIncorporated place
    735
  5. 05
    Wiley Ford CDPCensus-designated place
    630
  6. 06
    Ridgeley townIncorporated place
    239
  7. 07
    Elk Garden townIncorporated place
    212
  8. 08
    Burlington CDPCensus-designated place
    94

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

0.261% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.45%

$818 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+16

540 in · 524 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$493

$48,843 arriving · $49,336 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors3.3%

7 of 211 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; for a rent figure, the Cumberland, MD page covers the wider market.
Same metro

The other counties in Cumberland, MD

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
Mineral County26,854$203kn/an/ainland flooding
Allegany County67,452$160k$1,0177.6%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. The Zillow value direction may not translate into executable sale pricing because FHFA reads differently.
  2. Unpublished market rent and MLS evidence may reveal weaker cash flow or exit conditions than the record permits.
  3. Property-specific flood exposure, insurance availability, and claims history may diverge from the county modeled loss rate.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot substitute for market rent.

What does the HUD two-bedroom FMR represent?

It is a payment standard, not median asking rent or measured market rent.

Does the record establish investor-driven buyer competition?

No. It reports investor participation, but not the full buyer mix, cash purchases, or bidding conditions.