Counties / Virginia / Spotsylvania County

Spotsylvania County, VA

FIPS 51177 · population 146,603 · part of Washington, DC

$464k
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
$464k
▲ 0.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$2,120
▲ 4.2% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.5%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$2,246
market rent is 0.94x 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+51.3%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+0.8%FHFA HPI2025+1.1%
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$405k
Surveyed gross rent$1,779
Rent burden 30%+52.4%
Median year built1997
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
5.3%vacant
55,427estimated housing units
Occupied tenure19.9% renter
owner 80.1%renter 19.9%
Structure mix86.5% single-family
Single-family 86.5%20+ units 4.9%Mobile home 3.5%Other 5.1%
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 jobs38,021▲ 0.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments3,644annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,044▲ 2.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities32.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.5%WEEKLY WAGE+2.5%Trade, transportation, and utilities32.4%
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

Spotsylvania presents a price-to-rent and carrying-cost tension: Zillow’s county median home value is $463,508 while median asking market rent is $2,120 monthly, and the supplied gross yield is 5.49% before operating costs. The yield uses measured market rent, not a subsidy benchmark, so it is a screening measure rather than net cash flow. Buyers able to verify property-level expenses and rental durability should investigate; those relying on appreciation or untested flood costs should be cautious.

02Housing economics

An effective property-tax rate of 0.58% and a median annual tax bill of $2,347 are carrying-cost inputs, but neither establishes a specific parcel’s assessment or tax bill. HUD’s $2,246 Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent; it is above the measured market rent and cannot replace that rent in a yield calculation. Insurance, maintenance, vacancy, and financing costs are not published, preventing a net-yield conclusion.

03Demand & competition

The record shows net migration inflow, with incoming movers’ average AGI exceeding outgoing movers’ by $3,898; this is a lead on mover profile, not proof of household formation or demand for a target submarket. In Realtor.com’s MLS listing market, 440 active listings were up 15.79%, while 16.78% had price reductions. These are visible supply and seller-concession evidence, not closed-sale prices or buyer demand by themselves. QCEW identifies trade, transportation, and utilities as the largest disclosed private supersector; its annual covered-workplace jobs are neither resident employment nor a forecast.

04Risk & next checks

Zillow’s value reading cannot be merged with FHFA’s separate annual index: FHFA rose 1.06% annually and 51.27% cumulatively over five years. That repeat-transaction HPI is not a home value and does not create a common growth rate with Zillow. Inland flood is the dominant hazard; modeled annual climate loss equals 0.09% of building value, requiring parcel-specific exposure and insurance review. The record reports 98 investor purchases among 2,241 total purchases, a 4.37% share; that participation measure does not identify cash buyers or target property competition. Missing lease comps, condition, flood zone, insurance quotes, and closed-sale comparables prevent property-level income, loss, and exit underwriting.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Spotsylvania 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
Spotsylvania Courthouse CDP7.2KLake Wilderness CDP3.1K
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
    Spotsylvania Courthouse CDPCensus-designated place
    7,180
  2. 02
    Lake Wilderness CDPCensus-designated place
    3,139

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

0.090% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.58%

$2,347 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+653

5,655 in · 5,002 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$3,898

$72,938 arriving · $69,040 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors4.4%

98 of 2,241 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 listings440▲ 15.8% year over year
Median days on market30▼ 1.7% year over year
Listings price-reduced16.8%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 0.5% 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 Washington, DC

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
Spotsylvania County146,603$464k$2,1205.5%inland flooding
Fairfax County1,147,837$779k$2,5423.9%inland flooding
Montgomery County1,065,949$627k$2,3464.5%inland flooding
Prince George's County959,754$434k$1,9515.4%inland flooding
District of Columbia681,294$579k$2,5325.2%inland flooding
Prince William County488,880$592k$2,2824.6%inland flooding
Loudoun County432,998$810k$2,9174.3%inland flooding
Frederick County287,048$509k$2,2175.2%inland flooding
Arlington County236,254$824k$2,7224.0%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Flood exposure, insurance, and mitigation costs may diverge across parcels from the county modeled-loss figure.
  2. Target-unit rent, vacancy, and operating costs may make the pre-cost gross yield unrepresentative of net cash flow.
  3. MLS listing conditions may not translate into closed-sale liquidity or exit valuation.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from the record?

Yes. The record supplies gross yield based on measured median asking market rent before operating costs.

Is HUD Fair Market Rent an estimate of market asking rent?

No. It is a payment standard and should not substitute for measured market rent in yield underwriting.

Does the QCEW labor series describe employment held by county residents?

No. It measures annual covered jobs at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or a forecast.