Big Stone Gap, Virginia.
Typical home $148,047 (+1.4% in a year). Big Stone Gap, VA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$434 (+127%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $1,998 +1%
- $146,050$148,047 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $35,008 +31%
- $113,039$148,047 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.
- Big Stone Gap$777
- Virginia$2,164
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Big Stone Gap, VA rose 1.4% over the past year — in step with the nation.
Living in Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Virginia
Big Stone Gap is a town of 5,254 people in Wise County. Half its households earn more than $54,581 a year and half less, against $52,943 across Wise County. Unemployment in Wise County was 4.9% in August 2026, and the county had 0.1% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Wise 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Big Stone Gap is a small town in the mountains of Wise County, Virginia, with a median age a little above the national middle. Household incomes run slightly above the county's, and a typical home is valued well below what homes cost in much of the country. Winters are cold and summers warm, with some snow each winter and plenty of rain through the year.
Work. Most residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in restaurants and hotels, or in government. Among the largest workplaces in town are Lonesome Pine Hospital, K VA T Food Stores and Wallens Ridge State Prison. Unemployment across Wise County is a little higher than a year ago, and the number of jobs there has barely changed.
Things to do. Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park and Roaring Branch are in or beside town, and Laurel Fork, a protected natural area, is a short drive away. Natural Tunnel State Park is a longer drive away and is the best known of the nearby places.
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- 1,562households
- 16%of adults have a degree
- 6%work from home
What people in Wise County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Wise County had 10,958 jobs in 2025, 0.1% fewer 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 84° and lows near 63°. About 9 inches of snow and 56 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Big Stone Gap weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Big Stone Gap
- Wallens Ridge State PrisonPrisons465
- K VA T Food StoresSupermarket134
- Lonesome Pine HospitalHospitals, general medical and surgical129
- Quesenberry's ConstructionAddition, alteration and renovation general contractors, commercial and institutional building59
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 787 people in all. 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Big Stone Gap’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 Wise County and the Big Stone Gap, VA metro.
Big Stone Gap home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Big Stone Gap$148,047
- Virginia$412,252
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Big Stone Gap listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Big Stone Gap25.06%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Big Stone Gap38
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Big Stone Gap9
Zip codes with a Big Stone Gap address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Big Stone Gap — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.