Counties / Virginia / Westmoreland County

Westmoreland County, VA

FIPS 51193 · population 18,826 · outside every metro area

$316k
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
$316k
▼ 0.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,997
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
7.6%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,194
market rent is 1.67x 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+52.8%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−0.9%FHFA HPI2025−2.8%
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$270k
Surveyed gross rent$1,018
Rent burden 30%+43.7%
Median year built1984
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
28.8%vacant
11,448estimated housing units
Occupied tenure19.9% renter
owner 80.1%renter 19.9%
Structure mix89.5% single-family
Single-family 89.5%20+ units 0.3%Mobile home 7.6%Other 2.5%
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 jobs3,203▼ 0.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments501annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$880▲ 4.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities23.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.5%WEEKLY WAGE+4.8%Trade, transportation, and utilities23.4%
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

Westmoreland presents a yield-versus-liquidity tension: investors able to verify asset costs should investigate the published income spread, while buyers relying on price momentum or easy resale should be cautious. In Zillow’s 2026-06 county observation, median home value was $315,529, down 0.87% year over year; median asking rent was $1,997 per month, supporting a supplied 7.59% gross yield before costs. That measure does not establish net income, debt coverage, or rent achievable for a specific asset.

02Housing economics

HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $1,194 per month is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate; it cannot replace market rent in yield work. The effective property-tax rate is 0.60%, a carrying-cost input alongside price and rent. Modeled annual climate loss is 0.14% of building value under the county record’s hurricane hazard, requiring property-level insurance and mitigation review rather than a countywide loss estimate.

03Demand & competition

Demand and competition do not resolve the tension. Net migration was 165 tax-return households, and inbound movers’ average AGI exceeded outbound movers’ by $6,717, but neither figure identifies renter demand by neighborhood. Investor mortgages were 38 of 387 purchase mortgages (9.82%), a limited countywide measure rather than a read on individual assets. Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS evidence showed median listing price rose, 222 active listings, higher year over year, 57 median days on market, and 18.03% of listings reduced. These are asking-price, visible-supply, marketing-time, and seller-concession measures—not closed sales or proof of buyer demand.

04Risk & next checks

Risk limits remain material. FHFA’s 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI fell 2.76%; it points in the same weak direction as Zillow but is not a dollar home value and must not be averaged with Zillow because its method and vintage differ. QCEW’s 2025 annual series shows county-workplace covered employment declined while average weekly wage for covered workers rose; Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Vacancy, operating expenses, insurance premiums, financing terms, and property-level wind exposure are not published, preventing net-yield, debt-coverage, and asset-specific hazard-cost conclusions.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Westmoreland 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
Colonial Beach town4KMontross town375
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
    Colonial Beach townIncorporated place
    3,966
  2. 02
    Montross townIncorporated place
    375

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 hazardhurricane

0.143% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.60%

$1,628 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+165

741 in · 576 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$6,717

$69,220 arriving · $62,503 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.8%

38 of 387 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 listings222▲ 41.1% year over year
Median days on market57▲ 24.2% year over year
Listings price-reduced18.0%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 2.6% 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. Property-level hurricane insurance, wind coverage, and mitigation costs could eliminate the gross-yield cushion.
  2. Specific asset rents or vacancy could depart from the county median asking-rent measure.
  3. County MLS supply and concessions may not match the target neighborhood or property segment.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can a gross yield be computed from this record?

Yes. The record publishes market rent and gross yield before costs.

May HUD FMR be used as market rent?

No. It is a two-bedroom payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate.

What does the QCEW labor series measure?

Annual covered employment at county workplaces, rather than resident employment or unemployment.