Independence, Virginia.
Typical home $226,401 (+4.9% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$722 (+155%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $10,486 +5%
- $215,915$226,401 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $63,840 +39%
- $162,561$226,401 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.
- Independence$1,188
- Virginia$2,164
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 10 years.
Typical home values in Independence, VA rose 4.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Independence, Grayson County, Virginia
Independence is a town of 1,011 people in Grayson County. 66% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 34% are rented. Unemployment in Grayson County was 3.4% in August 2026, and the county had 4.7% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Grayson 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Independence is a small town in Grayson County, in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. Most homes here are lived in by their owners, and a typical home is valued at a modest sum compared with many parts of the country. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and summers are mild, with July the warmest.
Work. People in town work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, government and shops following. Grayson County Public Schools, Real Performance Machinery, which makes sawmill equipment, and the K VA T Food Stores supermarket are among the largest workplaces in Independence. Commutes are fairly short, and some residents work from home. Household incomes across Grayson County are on the lower side, and the county has fewer jobs than it did a year earlier.
Things to do. The country around Independence is good for time outdoors. The New River is a longer drive away, as is Stone Mountain State Park, a protected area. Grayson Highlands State Park, also a protected area, is a longer drive away as well.
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- 472households
- 19 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What people in Grayson County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Grayson County had 3,254 jobs in 2025, 4.7% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 41° and lows near 22°; warmest in July, with highs near 79° and lows near 63°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Elk Creek 4SSW weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Independence
- Grayson County Public SchoolsSchool district321FTE
- Real performance machinerySawmill equipment manufacturing100
- K VA T Food StoresSupermarket96
- Avardis HealthSkilled nursing facilities85
- Core Health & Fitness, LLC - VirginiaAmmunition, sporting, merchant wholesalers36
- Davlyn Group HoldingsBleaching textile products, apparel, and fabrics30
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 5 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 347 people in all. 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- LightningVery high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- DroughtRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Independence’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 Grayson County.
Independence home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Independence$226,401
- Virginia$412,252
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Independence 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.
- Independence22.35%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Independence25
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Independence4
Zip codes with a Independence address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Independence — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.