Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.
Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in Virginia with best potential return on investment.
After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.
To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in Virginia that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.
In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in Virginia at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Orange.
1.3% population growth · 1.8% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.6% population growth · -0.9% home price growth
Located in
Wise County, Virginia
Big Stone Gap is a town in Wise County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,643 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.3% population growth · 3.2% home price growth
Woodstock is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States. It has a population of 5,097 according to the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Shenandoah County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.3% population growth · -2.6% home price growth
Located in
Tazewell County, Virginia
Richlands is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,823 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-1.5% population growth · 7.3% home price growth
Located in
Emporia city, Virginia
Emporia is an independent city located within the confines of Greensville County, Virginia, United States. It and a predecessor town have been the county seat of Greensville County since 1791. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,927, making it the second-least populous city in Virginia. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Emporia with surrounding Greensville county for statistical purposes.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
1.2% population growth · 1.2% home price growth
Dumfries, officially the Town of Dumfries, is a town in Prince William County, Virginia. The population was 4,961 at the 2010 United States Census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.4% population growth · -1.1% home price growth
Located in
Smyth County, Virginia
Marion is a town in Smyth County, Virginia, United States. The population was 6,033 according to a 2017 count- not estimate- using local resources, information and current data. It is the county seat. The town is named for American Revolutionary War officer Francis Marion.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.2% population growth · 4.0% home price growth
Located in
Covington city, Virginia
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.9% population growth · 0.2% home price growth
Located in
Rockingham County, Virginia
Bridgewater is an incorporated town in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,644 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bridgewater is also home to Bridgewater College.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.4% population growth · 3.0% home price growth
Located in
Galax city, Virginia
Galax is an independent city in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 7,042. In 2015 the estimated population was 6,941.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Virginia’s statewide median.
Virginia statewide median: $412,467
On the map
Where Virginia’s best buys are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Virginia for 2026?
We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for over a decade. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent 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 using Saturday Night Science.
To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2020-2024 and compared it to the previous vintage. 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 these caveats: home prices had to be within 20% of the state average, home prices increased in the last year, and the city had above 5,000 people.
So of the 593 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 above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.
Turns out that Orange is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Old Dominion.
The full plate
Best Places To Buy A Home In Virginia
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Median Home Price | Population Change | Home Price Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orange | 5,066 | $336,894 | 1.3% | 1.8% |
| 2 | Big Stone Gap | 5,162 | $140,137 | -0.6% | -0.9% |
| 3 | Woodstock | 5,871 | $337,785 | 0.3% | 3.2% |
| 4 | Richlands | 5,171 | $106,217 | -0.3% | -2.6% |
| 5 | Emporia | 5,547 | $159,794 | -1.5% | 7.3% |
| 6 | Dumfries | 5,816 | $596,416 | 1.2% | 1.2% |
| 7 | Marion | 5,670 | $157,966 | -0.4% | -1.1% |
| 8 | Covington | 5,680 | $158,023 | 0.2% | 4.0% |
| 9 | Bridgewater | 6,708 | $375,081 | 0.9% | 0.2% |
| 10 | Galax | 6,726 | $182,063 | 0.4% | 3.0% |
| 11 | Buena Vista | 6,593 | $196,020 | -0.3% | 1.4% |
| 12 | Strasburg | 7,214 | $346,089 | 0.7% | 2.1% |
| 13 | Lexington | 7,525 | $358,989 | 1.4% | 2.6% |
| 14 | South Boston | 7,853 | $149,172 | -0.5% | 3.4% |
| 15 | Ashland | 7,772 | $463,340 | 1.4% | 3.3% |
| 16 | Wytheville | 8,202 | $223,768 | -0.3% | 3.2% |
| 17 | Abingdon | 8,330 | $281,619 | -0.0% | 0.0% |
| 18 | Franklin | 8,250 | $242,884 | 0.5% | 1.5% |
| 19 | Vinton | 8,056 | $283,675 | 0.2% | 2.5% |
| 20 | Farmville | 7,774 | $261,292 | 2.1% | 1.3% |
| 21 | Smithfield | 8,834 | $393,349 | 1.2% | 1.8% |
| 22 | Pulaski | 8,893 | $168,552 | -0.5% | 0.5% |
| 23 | Warrenton | 10,176 | $681,948 | 0.2% | 1.9% |
| 24 | Purcellville | 8,973 | $909,565 | -0.0% | 2.9% |
| 25 | Poquoson | 12,639 | $462,480 | 0.7% | 3.6% |
| 26 | Martinsville | 13,658 | $133,032 | 0.5% | -0.5% |
| 27 | Falls Church | 14,710 | $789,604 | 0.8% | 3.9% |
| 28 | Williamsburg | 15,798 | $464,104 | 1.5% | 1.1% |
| 29 | Front Royal | 15,296 | $383,200 | 1.0% | 3.3% |
| 30 | Vienna | 16,412 | $1,179,673 | 0.3% | 4.2% |
| 31 | Bristol | 16,849 | $201,474 | -1.0% | -1.6% |
| 32 | Colonial Heights | 18,352 | $294,925 | 0.8% | 1.5% |
| 33 | Manassas Park | 16,798 | $462,197 | -0.7% | 1.0% |
| 34 | Radford | 16,726 | $261,601 | 1.3% | -0.1% |
| 35 | Culpeper | 20,794 | $451,495 | 1.7% | 1.7% |
| 36 | Waynesboro | 22,841 | $312,910 | 1.2% | 2.5% |
| 37 | Christiansburg | 22,720 | $304,607 | -0.4% | 1.8% |
| 38 | Hopewell | 22,959 | $232,749 | 0.1% | 1.3% |
| 39 | Fairfax | 25,026 | $792,535 | 2.2% | 2.7% |
| 40 | Herndon | 24,672 | $740,680 | 0.6% | 1.8% |
| 41 | Staunton | 25,948 | $308,028 | 0.7% | 2.3% |
| 42 | Salem | 25,618 | $305,426 | 0.6% | 2.9% |
| 43 | Winchester | 27,913 | $399,457 | -0.2% | 1.4% |
| 44 | Fredericksburg | 28,873 | $480,265 | 1.7% | 1.3% |
| 45 | Petersburg | 33,537 | $245,998 | 0.5% | 2.7% |
| 46 | Danville | 42,214 | $156,399 | -0.1% | -0.2% |
| 47 | Manassas | 42,976 | $557,119 | 0.7% | 1.8% |
| 48 | Blacksburg | 45,446 | $420,779 | 0.3% | 3.0% |
| 49 | Charlottesville | 45,437 | $515,217 | -0.9% | 1.7% |
| 50 | Harrisonburg | 51,392 | $348,178 | -0.2% | 1.9% |
| 51 | Leesburg | 49,171 | $865,517 | 0.8% | 3.2% |
| 52 | Lynchburg | 79,497 | $262,101 | 0.3% | 0.7% |
| 53 | Suffolk | 98,796 | $384,301 | 2.2% | 2.7% |
| 54 | Portsmouth | 97,190 | $260,462 | -0.1% | 1.9% |
| 55 | Roanoke | 98,355 | $277,113 | -0.3% | 1.7% |
| 56 | Hampton | 137,557 | $275,341 | 0.2% | 3.0% |
| 57 | Alexandria | 156,976 | $676,205 | 0.1% | 1.7% |
| 58 | Newport News | 184,216 | $290,660 | -0.3% | 1.8% |
| 59 | Richmond | 229,359 | $369,646 | 0.8% | 2.6% |
| 60 | Chesapeake | 252,583 | $420,756 | 0.6% | 2.1% |
| 61 | Norfolk | 233,596 | $306,227 | -0.6% | 1.3% |
| 62 | Virginia Beach | 456,349 | $427,032 | -0.2% | 3.3% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 via Saturday Night Science. 62 Virginia cities cleared the filters.
Summary
Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Virginia for 2026
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 593 places in the state.
The best cities to buy a house in Virginia are Orange, Big Stone Gap, Woodstock, Richlands, Emporia, Dumfries, Marion, Covington, Bridgewater, and Galax.
So if we could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.
