All homes and bedroom counts
Markets / West Virginia / Bluefield
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Bluefield, WV
Bluefield merits investigation by yield-focused buyers willing to underwrite weak demand, but buyers dependent on employment or population growth should avoid it.
Median price$152k
Median rent$826
Gross yield6.5%
Job growth▼ 2.3%
Composite Market ScoreRank #218 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Bluefield, WV?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $826 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 9.27% from a year earlier.
Occupied rental units paying rent
Two-bedroom standard
These figures are not averaged together. Zillow and Realtor describe asking-rent markets, ACS measures rent paid by surveyed households, and HUD publishes administrative bedroom standards.
Exact county schedules
HUD rent benchmarks inside Bluefield
Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.
| County | Studio | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercer County, WVFIPS 54055 | $618 | $717 | $896 | $1,206 | $1,258 |
| Tazewell County, VAFIPS 51185 | $727 | $732 | $914 | $1,096 | $1,252 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Bluefield merits investigation by yield-focused buyers willing to underwrite weak demand, but buyers dependent on employment or population growth should avoid it. At a $152,403 median value and 6.5% reported gross yield, the $826 asking rent supports an income case, while rent at 19.61% of median income indicates manageable local tenant burden.
Opportunity comes from the split between rents and prices: asking rent rose 9.27% year over year while home values fell 0.43%. Risk sits on the demand side: employment fell 2.29% and net migration was -180 households. That combination supports disciplined income underwriting, not a growth-led thesis.
The record shows 24 permits, yet 8.1 months of supply and price drops on 24.59% of listings point to negotiating room but also resale friction. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with a 0.1508% annual climate loss ratio. Property-level flood exposure and insurance terms need review before purchase.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What income does the current price support?
The median home value is $152,403, median asking rent is $826 per month, and the reported gross yield is 6.5%.
How affordable is the market to local households?
Median household income is $50,550, rent equals 19.61% of that income, and the price-to-income ratio is 3.01.
Are movers adding households and purchasing power?
Tax filings show 1,342 households moved in and 1,522 moved out, for net migration of -180; average income was $44,183 for arrivals and $43,993 for departures, a $190 gap.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 6.5%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 9.27%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 8.6%
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Put the evidence to work
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Bluefield as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
Run cash flowStarts with this market's measured price and rentSave to shortlistCompare this metro with up to four other placesCheck rent by ZIPMove from metro context to a local rent benchmarkFind a comparison marketRead a curated two-market decision analysisShare this analysisEmail the canonical link without adding page scriptsReport a data issueSend the figure, source and release period to review
Market pulse
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
Months of supply8.1 mo.▲ from 3.8 mo. a year ago
Median days on market63 days▲ from 62 days a year ago
Listings with price drops24.6%▲ from 18.4% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio94.4%2026-05-01
Home value growth▼ 0.4%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 9.27%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield6.5%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▼ 2.3%LAUS · 12m to 2026-05
Release-to-release evidence
What actually changed
This comparison exists because at least one underlying source period advanced. Rebuilding the same data never creates a new observation.
Published score held steady54→54
0 ptsThe published component scores did not move in this release.
Weights were unchanged at metro-2026-07-v2-omb2023, so the movement comes from refreshed evidence and percentile ranks.
The named source periods advanced, but the measured values on this page held steady.
Composite breakdown
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
54| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 9 | 30% | 2.70 |
| Rent trend | 95 | 25% | 23.75 |
| Affordability | 84 | 15% | 12.60 |
| Supply pressure | 54 | 15% | 8.10 |
| Climate risk | 44 | 15% | 6.60 |
| Published score | 54 | ||
Bluefield, WV scoreRank #218
54Job growth9/100
Job: Employment fell 2.29% year over year -> labor-market support for rental demand is weak.
Rent trend95/100
Rent: Asking rent rose 9.27% year over year and the reported gross yield is 6.5% -> current income signals are the market’s main strength.
Affordability84/100
Affordability: Rent equals 19.61% of median income and price equals 3.01 times income -> tenant burden and acquisition pricing appear manageable against local incomes.
Supply pressure54/100
Supply: Permits total 24 while months of supply is 8.1 -> limited construction coexists with substantial for-sale availability.
Climate risk44/100
Climate: Inland flood is the dominant hazard and the annual loss ratio is 0.1508% -> property-level flood exposure and insurance terms require review.
The numbers
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
ZHVI Median Price
$152k
YoY ▼ 0.4%
ZORI Median Rent
$826
YoY ▲ 9.27%
Gross Rental Yield
6.5%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$826 × 12 ÷ $152,403
Job Growth (YoY)
▼ 2.3%
LAUS payrolls
Job signal 9/100
Median Household Income
$51k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
19.6%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
3.0x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$905
Market rent 91.3% of FMR
Historical affordability context
Compare aligned 2019 and 2024 asking-rent and nominal household-income endpoints across the direct-overlap metro set.
Independent rent evidence
One market, several legitimate rent benchmarks
These releases observe different homes and different moments. RentMarker keeps them separate: ZORI remains the scoring baseline, while the other sources test how sensitive the market story is to bedroom mix and measurement method.
Monthly benchmark4 of 4 reported values
Zero-based scale$826Primary RentMarker baseline
2026-06-30
All homes and bedroom counts
A smoothed metro rent index for observed rentals; it is the primary rent used by RentMarker scores and career ratios.
View source release ↗$725−$102 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
One-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$905+$79 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
Two-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$804−$22 vs ZORI
ACS 2024 5-year
Occupied rental units paying rent
A five-year survey estimate of contract rent plus applicable tenant-paid utilities; it is not a current asking-rent index.
View source release ↗Take the next step
Keep Bluefield as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Supply pipeline
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
National supply context
Compare this authorization pipeline with asking-rent growth, jobs and for-sale liquidity across the evidence-complete metro set.
Building permits by structure type
units per year · latest year annualised
24 units authorised in 2026, 42% of them in 5+ unit buildings. A meaningful share is apartments, which discount first when they lease up. ✓ recomputed from series
Who is arriving, and who is buying
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
Net Household Move
−180
1,342 in vs 1,522 out (IRS SOI)
▼ 13.4% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$190
Arriving $44,183 vs leaving $43,993
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
8.6%
55 of 640 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.151% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: McDowell County · Buchanan County · Russell County · Raleigh County · Giles County
✓ 1,342 in − 1,522 out = -180 netDirect market links
Where tax-return households moved from and to
These are the largest flows where both counties map to a RentMarker market area. They are a documented subset of the all-US IRS totals above.
Leading inbound markets
- Beckley, WV57 arriving
- Blacksburg, VA34 arriving
- Kingsport, TN21 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Beckley, WV59 leaving
- Charleston, WV34 leaving
- Kingsport, TN33 leaving
The other side
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- Employment fell 2.29% year over year and net migration was -180 households, leaving weak evidence for deeper tenant demand.
- Homes carried 8.1 months of supply, took a median 63 days to sell, and had price drops on 24.59% of listings, indicating resale friction.
- The dominant hazard is inland flood, alongside an annual climate loss ratio of 0.1508% of building value; property-level loss and insurance risk remain underwriting issues.
Inside this micro area
Move from the market-area average to local evidence
Use the available county and city pages to add local price, rent, housing, migration and hazard context to the market-area view.
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Bluefield
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Market area | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluefield, WV (Target) | 54 | $152k | $826 | 6.5% | ▼ 2.3% |
| Carbondale, IL | 45 | $157k | $884 | 6.8% | ▼ 2.6% |
| Nacogdoches, TX | 36 | $224k | $1,122 | 6.0% | ▼ 2.6% |
| Cumberland, MD | 44 | $173k | $1,011 | 7.0% | ▼ 2.3% |
| Parkersburg, WV | 40 | $173k | $1,003 | 7.0% | ▼ 1.5% |
Provenance
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rent | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — historical household income | direct | ACS 2019 and 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent index | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| BEA County Personal Income — income and population | direct | 2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levels | direct | 2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wages | direct | May 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15) | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-08-02 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA | 2026-08-08 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 2025 | 2026-08-02 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income band | direct | HUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23) | 2026-08-03 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalk | direct | HUD-USPS 2026Q1 | 2026-08-09 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-06 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-06 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rents | direct | top-50 rental asking rents 2026-05 | 2026-08-05 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supply | direct | ZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-03 | 2026-08-12 |
| USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | direct | USDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | 2026-08-02 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusted | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv | 2026-08-15 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-08-08 |