These Are The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Virginia For 2019

How We Determined The Most Affordable Places To Live In The Old Dominion For 2019

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it’s actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2013-2017 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Virginia to figure out which is the least expensive.

What you are left with is a “Cost of Living Index” by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 62 places in Virginia that have more than 5,000 people.

The place with the lowest cost of living in Virginia according to the data is Pulaski.

The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Virginia For 2019

1. Pulaski

Pulaski is a town in Pulaski County, Virginia, United States. The population was 9,086 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Pulaski County.

The median income in Pulaski comes in at $40,711 and the median home value is $109,300 for 2019.

2. Big Stone Gap

Big Stone Gap is a town in Wise County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,643 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Big Stone Gap comes in at $40,619 and the median home value is $110,900 for 2019.

3. Marion

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.

The median income in Marion comes in at $31,933 and the median home value is $91,300 for 2019.

Bluefield is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, United States, located along the Bluestone River. The population was 5,444 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,342. The micropolitan area is the 350th largest statistical population area in the United States.

The median income in Bluefield comes in at $44,010 and the median home value is $125,100 for 2019.

5. Danville

Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 43,055. It is bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It hosts the Danville Braves baseball club of the Appalachian League.

The median income in Danville comes in at $34,951 and the median home value is $90,900 for 2019.

6. Covington

The median income in Covington comes in at $35,546 and the median home value is $72,200 for 2019.

7. Martinsville

Martinsville is an independent city near the southern border of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,821. It is the county seat of Henry County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Martinsville with Henry County for statistical purposes.

The median income in Martinsville comes in at $33,545 and the median home value is $90,100 for 2019.

8. Richlands

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.

The median income in Richlands comes in at $28,410 and the median home value is $84,300 for 2019.

9. Christiansburg

Christiansburg is a town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States. The population was 21,041 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County. Christiansburg, Blacksburg, and Radford are the three principal municipalities of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses those municipalities and all of Montgomery County.

The median income in Christiansburg comes in at $60,223 and the median home value is $182,300 for 2019.

10. Bristol

Bristol is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,835. It is the twin city of Bristol, Tennessee, just across the state line, which runs down the middle of its main street, State Street. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Bristol, Virginia, with neighboring Washington County, Virginia, for statistical purposes. Bristol is a principal city of the Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the “Tri-Cities” region.

The median income in Bristol comes in at $37,844 and the median home value is $114,100 for 2019.