Elkin, North Carolina.
Typical home $232,457 (+3.3% in a year). Mount Airy, NC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$732 (+150%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,329 +3%
- $225,128$232,457 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $59,566 +34%
- $172,891$232,457 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.
- Elkin$1,220
- North Carolina$1,743
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Elkin, NC rose 3.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Elkin, Surry County, North Carolina
Elkin is a town of 4,122 people in Surry County. Half its households earn more than $60,740 a year and half less, against $55,656 across Surry County; 22% of its people live below the poverty line. 61% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 39% are rented. Unemployment in Surry County was 3.3% in August 2026, and the county had 1.5% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Elkin is a small town in Surry County, North Carolina, and its residents skew a little older than in many places. Household incomes run above the county's, and most homes are lived in by their owners. A four-year degree is held by fewer adults than not, and a good number of residents live below the poverty line. Winters are cold, with a modest amount of snow, summers turn hot, and rain falls fairly steadily through the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by manufacturing, other services and shops. Among the largest workplaces in Elkin are Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital, Elkin City Schools and Walmart. Commutes are of middling length, and a small share of people work from home. Across Surry County, unemployment is a little lower than a year ago, though the county has fewer jobs than it did the year before.
Things to do. For time outdoors, the Mitchell River and Roaring River are both a short drive away and offer river scenery close to town. Stone Mountain State Park, a protected area, is a longer drive away. North Wilkesboro Speedway, a race track, is also a longer drive.
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- 1,660households
- 30%of adults have a degree
- 22%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 12%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Surry County had 28,718 jobs in 2025, 1.5% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 49° and lows near 23°; warmest in July, with highs near 87° and lows near 65°. About 3 inches of snow and 49 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Elkin weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Elkin
- Hugh Chatham Memorial HospitalGeneral hospital677FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters338
- Elkin City SchoolsSchool district173FTE
- Lowe's Companies, INCHomecenter114
- Prism - 119 West MainAppliances, surgical, merchant wholesalers87
- Food LionGrocery stores81
- Commercial Air Systems (CAS)Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning contractors80
- SodexoJanitorial services73
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 11 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 964 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts 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
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Elkin’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Surry County and the Mount Airy, NC metro.
Elkin home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Elkin$232,457
- North Carolina$332,159
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Elkin 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.
- Elkin27.65%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Elkin42
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Elkin8
Zip codes with a Elkin address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Elkin — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.