War, West Virginia.
Typical home $32,376 (-16.3% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$64 (+60%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $6,298 -16%
- $38,674$32,376 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $11,154 -26%
- $43,530$32,376 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.
- War$170
- West Virginia$927
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in War, WV fell 16.3% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in War, McDowell County, West Virginia
War is a city of 623 people in McDowell County. Unemployment in McDowell County was 10.6% in August 2026, and the county had 5.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in McDowell County work in schools and health care, then government.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. War is a small city in the southern coalfield country of McDowell County, West Virginia, in steep, narrow hollows along War Creek. It is home to very few people, and the scale is that of a close-knit community where neighbors tend to know one another. Homes here are far less costly than in most of the country, and household incomes across McDowell County sit well below the national picture.
Work. Residents of War work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in government, in farming, forestry and mining, and in transport, warehouses and utilities. Across McDowell County, McDowell County Schools and Welch Community Hospital are among the largest workplaces. Jobs in the county have been shrinking, and unemployment there is higher than in most places, though a little lower than a year earlier.
Things to do. The nearest outdoor ground is Berwind Lake Wildlife Management Area, a protected area a short drive away, and Tug Fork Wildlife Management Area is also a short drive off. War Creek runs in or beside town, and Pinnacle Rock State Park is a longer drive away for those willing to go farther. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month and highs staying above freezing but lows dropping well below it, while July is the warmest, with warm but not extreme afternoons.
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What people in McDowell County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. McDowell County had 3,739 jobs in 2025, 5.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 43° and lows near 23°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 60°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Elkhorn weather station, 16 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in McDowell County
- Mcdowell County SchoolsSchool district383FTE
- Welch Community HospitalGeneral hospital148FTE
- Bureau of Prisons/federal Prison SystemFederal government · Department of Justice134
- Wvnh EMPNursing care facilities83
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 1 workplace with 20 or more staff, 83 people in all across the county; War has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); 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
- Inland floodingVery high
- Strong windVery high
- LandslidesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in War’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. 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 McDowell County.
War home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- War$32,376
- West Virginia$176,576
- 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 War address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls War — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.