What salary do you need to live in Blacksburg, VA?

Blacksburg housing costs at a glance

Median gross rent, meaning contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities, runs $873, $1,055 and $1,241 a month for one, two and three bedrooms across Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA. The largest of those is 42% more than the smallest.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $240,900. With median household income at $65,839, a typical home costs 3.7× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 92.7, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 7.3% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $107,863 would at average US prices.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Blacksburg

For two bedrooms, $120,000 is where Blacksburg turns Comfortable. Below that, $60,000 marks the start of Okay and $30,000 the start of Tight; under $30,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 11% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $336,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.7× income.

These lines come straight from the calculator's formula: the income is raised until the two-bedroom score crosses each cutoff, then rounded up to the next $1,000.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Blacksburg

Choosing a bigger place in Blacksburg at $75,000 trims the score from 55 to 49 without leaving Okay.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $150,000, consistent with the $120,000 line above.

Blacksburg compared with every US metro

Ranked against all 387 metros, Blacksburg sits 219th on overall price level and 249th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 226th.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are Jackson, MS ($1,057) and Green Bay, WI ($1,055).

Blacksburg in a Virginia context

Statewide, Virginia's median two-bedroom rent is $1,481 and its median home value $383,700. Blacksburg's rent is −29% against that, and its home value −37%; the price parity is 92.7 versus 101.1 for the state.

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $216,000 — above Blacksburg's $120,000 line.

The nearest matches in Virginia, judged on rent and price parity together, are Harrisonburg, VA, Roanoke, VA, and Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA.

Does the typical Blacksburg income clear the bar?

The median household in the metro earns $65,839 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 48, Okay. That falls $54,161 short of the $120,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. Statewide, the Virginia median household ($93,170) grades Tight on the state's own medians. Household income can include more than one earner, so a single salary of the same size goes less far.

These are pre-tax estimates from public statistics, not financial advice.