Roanoke city, VA

Home values #

Typical home $220,971 (Aug 2026), +0.7% over one year, +36.6% over five

• 44th pct · 1,700th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 26th pct · 98th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
• 0th pct · 6th of 6 counties in the Roanoke metro · median $303,776

Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), typical value of homes in the 35th to 65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted; a model estimate of value, not a sale price. Data through Zillow Research.

Rents #

Typical rent $1,325/mo (Aug 2026), +2.3% over one year; price-to-rent 13.9

• 32nd pct · 940th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 12th pct · 69th of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
• 25th pct · 4th of 5 counties in the Roanoke metro · median $1,561

Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), smoothed, all homes and multifamily; price-to-rent = typical home / (typical rent × 12).

What the typical home costs to carry #

Principal and interest of $1,210 a month on $220,971 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,633 a month: 21.5% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $220,971 × 80% = $176,776, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,210/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,300 × 52 / 12 = $5,633) = 21% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $220,971 / ($1,300 × 52) = 3.3
• price-to-rent = $220,971 / ($1,325 × 12) = 13.9

The wage is one covered job’s average, not a household’s income, so this is the share of a single paycheque and not a mortgage underwriting ratio.

Estimate. Principal and interest on the typical home with 20% down over 30 years at this week's Freddie Mac average rate; compared with the average weekly wage of all jobs covered by unemployment insurance in the area (BLS QCEW), which is pay per job, not household income.

Jobs & wages #

67,038 jobs at 3,663 employers (2026 Q1); +0.5% jobs and +3.8% average weekly wage over the year

• 87th pct · 410th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 90th pct · 13th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
• 100th pct · 1st of 6 counties in the Roanoke metro · median 18,323

BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, all ownerships, total covered employment in the quarter's third month; over-the-year changes as published. Suppressed cells stay blank.

Drought #

D1 moderate drought

Sites found: 5, searched within 0 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 0 km away are not.

US Drought Monitor current week; the highest class of any polygon containing the point.

Reservoirs #

3 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 3, searched within 150 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 150 km away are not.

Σ(capacity × percent full) / Σ capacity over TWDB reservoirs within 150 km. Texas only; elsewhere USGS reservoir elevation/storage is listed without a capacity to normalise by.

Stream gauges #

79 gauges · 0 flooding · 33 with quality panels averaging 98 % · 25 stale

Sites found: 79, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest readings screened against EPA freshwater criteria (DO ≥ 5 mg/L, pH 6.5–9, conductance, turbidity, temperature); NWS flood categories where a NWPS gauge is co-located.

Groundwater #

13 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 13, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest daily water levels. A single latest reading says where the table is, not which way it is moving; select a well for its 365-day trace.

Water stress #

low (0.16)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.02 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$3.5 bn in deposits at 30 offices of 14 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,766, highly concentrated. $723.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $621.4 m, grants $81.0 m), $10,794 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 2,766 across 14 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 14 banks with deposits in the county = 45.9² + 20.6² + 11.8² + … (11 more) = 2,766

FDIC Summary of Deposits: deposits at every insured office as of June 30, annual; HHI is the sum of squared county deposit shares (DOJ 1995 bank merger screen: 1000 / 1800). USAspending: obligations by place of performance for the latest complete federal fiscal year (Oct 1 to Sep 30), what agencies committed, not what they paid out; recipients are legal entities. Per-job divides obligations by BLS QCEW covered employment.

Federal obligations #

USAspending place-of-performance obligations for FY2026, by awarding agency.

That is $10,794 per covered job, against 67,038 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $723.6 m / 67,038 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $10,794

USAspending obligations are recorded where the work is performed, so a prime award performed here is counted here even when the recipient is headquartered elsewhere. Recipients are legal entities, never people.

National context, not this county #

These are United States, single-gauge, single-state and port series. None of them is keyed to this county.

The indicator registry has no county-keyed series and no geographic selection: every entry is national, a named gauge, a single state or a port. They are here as the backdrop the county's own numbers move against, and they are never this county's readings.

What changed #

Roanoke city, VA: 13 findings, 13 noted

1. noteRoanoke city, VA's average weekly wage was 3.8% higher than the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q1, on BLS QCEW's published over-the-year change.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +3.8 % = BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change for 2026 Q1, as published
   • the newest QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, so no move from one level to another is printed

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published

2. noteRoanoke city, VA's covered employment was 0.5% higher than the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q1, on BLS QCEW's published over-the-year change.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.5 % = BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change for 2026 Q1, as published
   • the newest QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, so no move from one level to another is printed

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published

3. noteRoanoke city, VA's typical asking rent fell 0.4% from $1,330 in July 2026 to $1,325 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.4% = (1324.617486860965 - 1330.2365682460347) / 1330.2365682460347 × 100
   • 1324.617486860965 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1330.2365682460347 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

4. noteRoanoke city, VA's typical home value rose 0.3% from $220,404 in July 2026 to $220,971 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.3% = (220970.566865471 - 220404.34972616678) / 220404.34972616678 × 100
   • 220970.566865471 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
   • 220404.34972616678 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07

5. noteRoanoke city, VA's typical home value of $220,971 ranks 6th of 6 counties in the Roanoke metro, against a median of $303,776.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 6 counties in the Roanoke metro that published home.latest

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

Read all 12 findings in the full brief

Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.