Ranson, West Virginia.
Typical home $316,736 (+3.1% in a year), asking rent $2,078 . Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$961 (+137%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $9,500 +3%
- $307,236$316,736 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $79,046 +33%
- $237,690$316,736 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.
- Ranson$1,662
- West Virginia$927
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Ranson, WV rose 3.1% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Ranson, Jefferson County, West Virginia
Ranson, in Jefferson County, had 5,433 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $89,523 a year and half less, against $98,806 across Jefferson County; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. 72% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 28% are rented. Unemployment in Jefferson County was 3.1% in August 2026, and the county had 0.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in restaurants and hotels, then schools and health care.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Ranson is a small town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, with a population on the younger side of middle age. Household incomes run below the county's, and more people here live in homes they own than rent. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and summers turn warm in July; rain and melted snow fall through the year at a moderate amount.
Work. Many residents work in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, in schools, hospitals and social care, and in professional and business services, with shops close behind. Among the largest workplaces in Ranson are Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, Jefferson Memorial Hospital and Weis Markets. Commutes tend to be on the long side, and a small share of people work from home.
Things to do. The New Opera House, a theatre, sits in or beside town. A short drive away is Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, a protected area, and Shannondale Springs Wildlife Management Area is also close for time outdoors. Farther afield, a longer drive brings you to Antietam National Battlefield.
Report a mistake
- 2,351households
- 19%of adults have a degree
- 12%below the poverty line
- 31 mintypical commute
- 13%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Jefferson County had 17,136 jobs in 2025, 0.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 41° and lows near 24°; warmest in July, with highs near 87° and lows near 64°. About 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Martinsburg East Wv Regional Airport weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Ranson
- Hollywood Casino at Charles Town RacesCasinos1,092
- Jefferson Memorial HospitalCritical access hospital261FTE
- Weis MarketsSupermarkets and other grocery100
- Royal Crown Bottling Company of HagerstownSoft drinks merchant wholesalers55
- Kohl's51
- RansonMail and parcel delivery30
- PlamondonFamily restaurants, limited-service24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,675 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- Strong windrelatively high in parts of RansonRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Ranson’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very 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 Jefferson County and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro.
Ranson home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Ranson$316,736
- West Virginia$176,576
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Ranson 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.
- Ranson21.60%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Ranson31
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Ranson14
Zip codes with a Ranson address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Ranson — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.