Bancroft, West Virginia.
Typical home $96,513 (-21.8% in a year). Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$226 (+80%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $26,861 -22%
- $123,374$96,513 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $4,763 +5%
- $91,750$96,513 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Bancroft$507
- West Virginia$927
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 68 years.
Typical home values in Bancroft, WV fell 21.8% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Bancroft, Putnam County, West Virginia
Bancroft is a town of 387 people in Putnam County. Unemployment in Putnam County was 3.4% in August 2026, and the county had 5.2% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Putnam County work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Bancroft is a very small town on the Pocatalico River in Putnam County, West Virginia, small enough that neighbors are likely to know one another. Homes here cost less than in most of the country, and few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold and snowy enough to matter, and summers are warm.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in professional and business services, and in transport, warehouses and utilities. Across Putnam County, some of the largest workplaces are Toyota Motor Mfg West Virginia, Putnam County Schools and CAMC Teays Valley Hospital. The county has gained jobs over the past year, and most people drive to work, with few working from home.
Things to do. The Pocatalico River runs in or beside town, as does the Amherst-Plymouth Wildlife Management Area, a protected area for time outdoors. A short drive away are the Coal River and Frog Creek, both good for time by the water. The much larger Kanawha River is a longer drive away.
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- 5%of adults have a degree
- 11%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 3%work from home
What people in Putnam County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Putnam County had 22,322 jobs in 2025, 5.2% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 44° and lows near 24°; warmest in July, with highs near 87° and lows near 65°. About 11 inches of snow and 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Winfield Locks weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Putnam County
- Toyota Motor Mfg West VirginiaVehicle assembly2,390
- Putnam County SchoolsSchool district1,275FTE
- Triton ConstructionBridge construction804
- CAMC Teays Valley HospitalHospitals, general medical and surgical554
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters357
- Diamond ElectricCoils, ignition, internal combustion engines, manufacturing300
- American Electric Power257
- Kanawha Stone CompanyHighway construction244
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 65 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 8,585 people in all across the county; Bancroft has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Inland floodingVery high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Bancroft’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Putnam County and the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro.
Bancroft home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Bancroft$96,513
- West Virginia$176,576
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Zip codes with a Bancroft address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Bancroft — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zillow publishes no zip-level series with this city on the address.