Gretna, Virginia.
Typical home $173,813 (+4.2% in a year). Danville, VA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$507 (+125%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,007 +4%
- $166,806$173,813 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $39,572 +29%
- $134,241$173,813 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.
- Gretna$912
- 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 Gretna, VA rose 4.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Gretna, Pittsylvania County, Virginia
Gretna is a town of 1,310 people in Pittsylvania County. Half its households earn more than $33,698 a year and half less, against $54,085 across Pittsylvania County. 54% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 46% are rented. Unemployment in Pittsylvania County was 3.9% in August 2026, and the county had 1.1% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Pittsylvania County 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Gretna is a small town in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, where most homes are lived in by their owners, though renters make up a real part of the community. Household incomes in town run well below the county's, and typical home values are modest. Few adults hold a four-year degree.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by manufacturing, shops and the building trades. Some of the largest workplaces in Gretna are Gretna Operations, a nursing home, Food Lion, a grocery store, and Sensata, which makes sensors and thermal instruments. Across the county, unemployment has eased a little over the past year, and there are slightly more jobs than there were the year before.
Things to do. The Stinking River is a short drive away, which suits anyone who likes being near water. Farther afield, Smith Mountain Lake is a reservoir and Smith Mountain Lake State Park a protected area, and Virginia International Raceway is a race track, all a longer drive away. Winters are cold, with a little snow, and summers are warm, with a fair amount of rain through the year.
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- 638households
- 14%of adults have a degree
What people in Pittsylvania County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Pittsylvania County had 13,000 jobs in 2025, 1.1% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 47° and lows near 24°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 65°. About 6 inches of snow and 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Chatham weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Gretna
- Gretna OperationsNursing homes112
- Food LionGrocery stores82
- SensataThermal conductivity instruments and sensors manufacturing35
- Mecklenburg Electric GretnaDistribution of electric power22
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 251 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
- DroughtRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Gretna’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. 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 Pittsylvania County and the Danville, VA metro.
Gretna home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Gretna$173,813
- Virginia$412,252
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Gretna 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.
- Gretna21.20%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Gretna24
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Gretna5
Zip codes with a Gretna address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Gretna — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.