Salem city, VA

Home values #

Typical home $291,982 (Aug 2026), +4.1% over one year, +33.0% over five

• 67th pct · 992nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 45th pct · 73rd of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
• 40th pct · 4th 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 $1,561/mo (Aug 2026), +1.2% over one year; price-to-rent 15.6

• 55th pct · 617th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 28th pct · 57th of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
• 50th pct · 3rd 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 $1,598 a month on $291,982 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,798 a month: 27.6% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $291,982 × 80% = $233,585, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,598/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,338 × 52 / 12 = $5,798) = 28% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $291,982 / ($1,338 × 52) = 4.2
• price-to-rent = $291,982 / ($1,561 × 12) = 15.6

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 #

20,624 jobs at 1,131 employers (2026 Q1); +0.9% jobs and +3.8% average weekly wage over the year

• 71st pct · 903rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 71st pct · 38th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
• 60th pct · 3rd 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 #

Surface water layer not loaded

Sites found: 0, 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 #

Surface water layer not loaded

Sites found: 0, 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 #

No USGS monitoring wells within 75 km (or above 1,500 km)

Sites found: 0, 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 #

moderate (0.25)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.1 bn in deposits at 10 offices of 9 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,132, highly concentrated. $307.1 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $198.8 m, contracts $108.0 m), $14,889 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 2,132 across 9 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 9 banks with deposits in the county = 33.4² + 21.8² + 20.0² + … (6 more) = 2,132

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 $14,889 per covered job, against 20,624 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $307.1 m / 20,624 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $14,889

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 #

Salem city, VA: 6 findings, 6 noted

1. noteSalem 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. noteSalem city, VA's covered employment was 0.9% 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

   • +0.9 % = 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. noteSalem city, VA's typical asking rent rose 0.7% from $1,550 in July 2026 to $1,561 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.7% = (1561.0396825396826 - 1550.1531458153643) / 1550.1531458153643 × 100
   • 1561.0396825396826 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1550.1531458153643 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

4. noteSalem city, VA's average weekly wage of $1,338 ranks 1st of 6 counties in the Roanoke metro, against a median of $1,232.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

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

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

5. noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering Salem city, VA is due between 2026-10-14 and 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.

   Show the arithmetic

   • window = 2026-10-14 to 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern

   estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date

Read all 6 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.