Counties / Virginia / Suffolk city

Suffolk city, VA

FIPS 51800 · population 98,796 · part of Virginia Beach, VA

$393k
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
$393k
▲ 2.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,988
▲ 3.0% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.1%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,713
market rent is 1.16x 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+53.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.3%FHFA HPI2025+4.0%
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$347k
Surveyed gross rent$1,563
Rent burden 30%+57.0%
Median year built1996
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
6.4%vacant
40,499estimated housing units
Occupied tenure29.3% renter
owner 70.7%renter 29.3%
Structure mix79.5% single-family
Single-family 79.5%20+ units 6.0%Mobile home 2.3%Other 12.2%
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 jobs44,432▲ 22.0% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments2,276annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,173▼ 5.0% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities40.9% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+22.0%WEEKLY WAGE−5.0%Trade, transportation, and utilities40.9%
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

Suffolk city poses a county-level underwriting tension: Zillow's 2026-06 median value of $393,495 pairs with $1,988 monthly median asking rent and a stated 6.06% gross yield before costs, but falling covered-worker pay and flood exposure demand a conservative expense file. Income-focused buyers able to validate insurance, taxes and lease-up merit investigation; buyers relying on resale momentum or assumed affordability warrant caution.

02Housing economics

Measured market rent, not HUD policy rent, supports that yield. The HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate. Zillow value rose 2.27% year over year, while FHFA's repeat-transaction HPI increased 3.97% in annual 2025. Both are positive directionally, but HPI is not a home value and their different vintages and methods cannot be combined. Realtor MLS evidence—484 active listings and 17.95% price-reduced—shows visible asking-side supply and seller concessions, not closed-sale demand. The 0.93% effective property-tax rate is a carrying-cost input.

03Demand & competition

QCEW annual 2025 reports 44,432 covered jobs at county workplaces, up 22.04%, while average covered weekly wage fell 5.02%. This is workplace-covered employment, not resident employment, unemployment or a forecast. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the entire economy. Net tax-return migration was 626, and inbound movers' average AGI exceeded outbound movers' by $1,264: a household-flow signal, not occupancy evidence. Investors accounted for 71 of 1,898 purchase mortgages, or 3.74%, indicating limited observed investor participation.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled climate loss is 0.10% of building value annually, with inland flood the dominant hazard; neither establishes a parcel's loss or insurance cost. Flood zone, elevation, policy quotes, assessment, rent comparables, vacancy, operating expenses, closed-sale comparables and financing terms are not published. Their absence prevents a net-cash-flow, cap-rate, resale-liquidity or property-specific hazard conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Suffolk city

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
Suffolk city98.8K
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
    Suffolk cityIncorporated place
    98,796

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

0.099% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.93%

$3,229 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+626

4,366 in · 3,740 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$1,264

$64,512 arriving · $63,248 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors3.7%

71 of 1,898 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 listings484▲ 2.6% year over year
Median days on market39▼ 10.3% year over year
Listings price-reduced17.9%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 5.1% 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 Virginia Beach, VA

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
Suffolk city98,796$393k$1,9886.1%inland flooding
Virginia Beach city456,349$433k$2,0655.7%hurricane
Chesapeake city252,583$430k$2,0435.7%inland flooding
Norfolk city233,596$316k$1,7536.7%inland flooding
Newport News city184,216$297k$1,5876.4%inland flooding
Hampton city137,557$283k$1,6927.2%inland flooding
Portsmouth city97,190$270k$1,6177.2%inland flooding
James City County81,013$489k$2,1485.3%inland flooding
York County71,005$470k$2,0955.3%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Insurance, flood mitigation or property-tax costs may absorb the gross-yield cushion.
  2. County workplace employment and migration may not translate into rental demand in a specific submarket.
  3. Listing concessions and missing closed-sale evidence leave exit pricing and liquidity unverified.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can this record support a net cash-flow calculation?

No. Vacancy, operating expenses, insurance and financing terms are not published.

Does FHFA provide a county dollar home value?

No. It is a repeat-transaction appreciation index, not a value estimate.

What does the record show about investor mortgage participation?

It shows limited non-occupant purchase-mortgage participation relative to total purchase mortgages.