Ripplemead, Virginia.
Typical home $193,924 (+10.9% in a year). Blacksburg-Christiansburg, VA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$561 (+123%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $19,017 +11%
- $174,907$193,924 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $42,019 +28%
- $151,905$193,924 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.
- Ripplemead$1,018
- Virginia$2,164
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in Ripplemead, VA rose 10.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Ripplemead, Giles County, Virginia
Ripplemead, in Giles County, had 306 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $79,000 a year and half less, against $65,691 across Giles County. Unemployment in Giles County was 3.6% in August 2026, and the county had 11.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Giles 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Ripplemead is a very small community in Giles County, Virginia, with a population small enough that most people likely know one another. Household incomes run above the county's, and homes here cost less than many people might expect for a place with incomes like these. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, while summers are warm in July and rain and melted snow fall steadily through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, the building trades and shops also employing many. Across Giles County, some of the largest workplaces are Celanese Acetate, Giles County Public Schools and Carilion Giles Community Hospital. Unemployment across the county is lower than a year ago, though the county has fewer jobs than it did the year before.
Things to do. Walker Creek, a river, runs in or beside town. A short drive away are Mountain Lake, a lake, and Mill Creek, a protected area. The Appalachian Trail is a longer drive away for those who want a day on a well-known trail.
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What people in Giles County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Giles County had 5,245 jobs in 2025, 11.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 42° and lows near 23°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 61°. About 23 inches of snow and 42 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Pearisburg Sse weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Giles County
- Celanese AcetateThermoplastic resins and plastics materials manufacturing615
- Giles County Public SchoolsSchool district390FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters203
- Carilion Giles Community HospitalCritical access hospital190FTE
- American HealthCareNursing care facilities126
- Interstate Group Glyn Lyn PlantAutomobile transporter trailers, multi-car, manufacturing116
- Cogar ManufacturingAugers, mining-type, manufacturing67
- Food LionGrocery stores67
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 9 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,202 people in all across the county; Ripplemead has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals 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
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Ripplemead’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 Giles County and the Blacksburg-Christiansburg, VA metro.
Ripplemead home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Ripplemead$193,924
- Virginia$412,252
- United States$366,157
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.
Zip codes with a Ripplemead address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Ripplemead — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zillow publishes no zip-level series with this city on the address.