The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In Virginia For 2022


Using science and data, we can tell you which places in Virginia have seen home prices rising and people flocking over the past year.

Chris Kolmar, About HomeSnacks
Last Updated: April 5, 2022
Editor’s note: This is not investment advice and we are not financial advisers. Article updated for 2022.

There's a the age old question everyone thinks about when they decide to move to a city in Virginia:

Should I buy a place or rent? Well, we aren't here today to solve that problem for you exactly. We are just assuming you'll do the right thing and a buy a place. And while we are happy to tell you the best place to live in Virginia, this analysis is going to tackle the question of the best place to buy a house as an investor. That is we are going to try and determine the up and coming cities in the Old Dominion.

To do that we are going to look at places in Virginia that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average. In every day terms, the "deals". The best deal in Virginia at the moment? That would be Orange according to our analysis.

Here's a look at the top ten places to buy a home in Virginia for 2022.

The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In Virginia For 2022

  1. Orange
  2. Big Stone Gap
  3. Woodstock
  4. Richlands
  5. Emporia
  6. Dumfries
  7. Marion
  8. Covington
  9. Bridgewater
  10. Galax

What's the best place to buy a home in Virginia for 2022? According to our analysis, would the the ideal place to buy a home looking into the future.

The methodology that wen't into this can be a bit complicated, so we'll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below. If you're not worried about finding a deal on good places to live, check out the most expensive places to live in Virginia and, for those of you on a budget, the cheapest places to live in Virginia.

For more Virginia reading, check out:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Virginia For 2022

1. Orange

Orange, VA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,024
Median Home Price: $217,200
Population Change: 1.0%
Home Price Change: -1.6%
More on Orange: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

2. Big Stone Gap

Big Stone Gap, VA

Source: Wikipedia User KJPurscell | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,209
Median Home Price: $127,200
Population Change: -0.9%
Home Price Change: 0.9%
More on Big Stone Gap: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

3. Woodstock

Woodstock, VA

Source: Wikipedia User DwayneP | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,247
Median Home Price: $220,300
Population Change: 0.7%
Home Price Change: 2.4%
More on Woodstock: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

4. Richlands

Richlands, VA

Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | CC BY 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 5,311
Median Home Price: $93,200
Population Change: -1.1%
Home Price Change: 10.2%
More on Richlands: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

5. Emporia

Emporia, VA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,408
Median Home Price: $121,600
Population Change: -0.6%
Home Price Change: 4.1%
More on Emporia: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

6. Dumfries

Dumfries, VA

Source: Wikipedia User Leonard J. DeFrancisci | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 5,559
Median Home Price: $214,800
Population Change: 3.5%
Home Price Change: 4.1%
More on Dumfries: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

7. Marion

Marion, VA

Source: Wikipedia User DwayneP (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,646
Median Home Price: $111,700
Population Change: -1.1%
Home Price Change: 11.9%
More on Marion: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

8. Covington

Covington, VA

Source: Flickr User taberandrew | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,653
Median Home Price: $70,400
Population Change: 1.0%
Home Price Change: -3.4%
More on Covington: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

9. Bridgewater

Bridgewater, VA

Source: Wikipedia User Strawser | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 6,090
Median Home Price: $255,100
Population Change: 1.0%
Home Price Change: 8.9%
More on Bridgewater: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

10. Galax

Galax, VA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

2
/10

Population: 6,402
Median Home Price: $97,400
Population Change: -1.8%
Home Price Change: 0.8%
More on Galax: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Virginia for 2022?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have been working on this site for another three. Suffice is to say, we've put a lot of thought into what goes into finding a good place to buy a home.

So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we'd approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Virginia. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Virginia with undervalued homes relative to pent up demand.

Best Places To Retire In Virginia

To do that we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2016-2020 and compared it to the previous vintage (2012-2016). Specifically, we used the following criteria:

  • Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
  • Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
  • Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It's still kinda cheap)

We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still "cheap" for Virginia with the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in Virginia, only 62 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 62 for the criteria mentioned above with 1 being the best for that criteria. We averaged the rankings to create a "best place to buy" index with the place having the lowest index being the best. You can download the data here.

Turns out that Orange is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Old Dominion.

Read on for more on these places.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Virginia for 2022

There's our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Virginia. And, to be clear, we aren't necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.

In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.

So if we'd could rent or buy in these cities, we'd definitely buy.

For more Virginia reading, check out:

Home Prices By City In Virginia

City Rank Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
Orange 1 $217,200 1.0% -1.6%
Big Stone Gap 2 $127,200 -0.9% 0.9%
Woodstock 3 $220,300 0.7% 2.4%
Richlands 4 $93,200 -1.1% 10.2%
Emporia 5 $121,600 -0.6% 4.1%
Dumfries 6 $214,800 3.5% 4.1%
Marion 7 $111,700 -1.1% 11.9%
Covington 8 $70,400 1.0% -3.4%
Bridgewater 9 $255,100 1.0% 8.9%
Galax 10 $97,400 -1.8% 0.8%
Buena Vista 11 $125,700 -0.1% -0.7%
Strasburg 12 $205,100 0.5% -0.7%
Lexington 13 $235,400 -0.5% -0.1%
South Boston 14 $128,300 -1.1% -3.0%
Ashland 15 $195,700 0.9% 2.0%
Wytheville 16 $162,500 -0.4% 1.8%
Abingdon 17 $168,600 -0.3% -0.5%
Franklin 18 $179,200 -1.6% 9.2%
Vinton 19 $147,900 0.2% -0.1%
Farmville 20 $194,000 0.4% 4.4%
Smithfield 21 $299,200 1.5% 5.8%
Pulaski 22 $112,100 -0.6% -4.7%
Warrenton 23 $337,000 0.2% -1.6%
Purcellville 24 $471,300 1.7% 1.5%
Poquoson 25 $344,300 0.3% 6.6%
Martinsville 26 $79,000 -1.6% -9.9%
Falls Church 27 $810,900 1.3% 2.7%
Williamsburg 28 $334,100 0.7% 9.2%
Front Royal 29 $225,200 0.9% 5.0%
Vienna 30 $778,200 0.3% 4.7%
Bristol 31 $127,900 0.9% 14.5%
Colonial Heights 32 $179,200 -0.8% 4.4%
Manassas Park 33 $299,700 3.3% -2.7%
Radford 34 $171,000 0.8% 0.1%
Culpeper 35 $281,500 1.6% 6.8%
Waynesboro 36 $183,600 0.7% 5.5%
Christiansburg 37 $197,400 1.4% 3.9%
Hopewell 38 $126,100 0.2% 2.6%
Fairfax 39 $587,000 -0.9% 4.7%
Herndon 40 $466,100 0.2% 5.3%
Staunton 41 $171,600 0.9% 1.5%
Salem 42 $200,000 -0.1% 10.0%
Winchester 43 $247,800 0.1% 1.2%
Fredericksburg 44 $376,700 1.5% 2.6%
Petersburg 45 $111,800 -1.8% 3.4%
Danville 46 $95,500 -1.0% 5.5%
Manassas 47 $338,100 -0.3% 4.2%
Blacksburg 48 $309,800 0.2% 3.8%
Charlottesville 49 $329,100 0.3% 9.8%
Harrisonburg 50 $220,100 0.5% 8.1%
Leesburg 51 $459,100 1.4% 5.7%
Lynchburg 52 $162,900 0.5% 1.7%
Suffolk 53 $265,600 1.4% 4.4%
Portsmouth 54 $174,200 -0.1% 1.9%
Roanoke 55 $134,900 -0.1% -0.1%
Hampton 56 $188,600 0.1% 1.0%
Alexandria 57 $572,700 0.4% -0.0%
Newport News 58 $194,700 -0.1% 0.4%
Richmond 59 $244,200 1.2% 5.9%
Chesapeake 60 $286,000 1.1% 4.5%
Norfolk 61 $215,800 -0.1% 4.4%
Virginia Beach 62 $287,400 0.2% 2.4%
Download The Entire Virginia Ranking Data

How Is The Area In ?

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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