Cave Spring, Virginia

Area Profile

25,742 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Cave Spring, in Roanoke County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signals: opportunity, growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
SchoolsTop 9% of 2,668 published cities84
Housing affordabilityTop 27% of 4,223 published cities92
ClimateTop 24% of 4,223 published cities77
Physical resilienceTop 21% of 4,182 published cities82
Access4095th of 4,226 published cities47
Economic stabilityTop 27% of 4,226 published cities71
The quick read

Rent takes 18% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.7 times that income.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Cave Spring in the top 21% for physical resilience.

A typical July reaches 88°F and a typical January falls to 29°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
25,742
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$87,539
Top 27% nationally
Density
2,156/sq mi
11.9 sq mi of land
Median age
42.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Roanoke County
Virginia
Metro area
Roanoke, VA
Nearest major airport
GSO
78 mi · Piedmont Triad Intl
Median home value
$325,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

49% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 88% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,404$87,539Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,888$49,725Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate5.9%Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.9 minBottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher48.8%Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Labor force participation66.9%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$60,590Bottom 16%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,140Bottom 17%2025 OEWS
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202488k74k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $87,539 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Roanoke, VA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Registered Nurses4,670$80,090
Retail Salespersons4,230$30,440
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,610$27,720
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators3,560$44,900
Cashiers3,380$29,060
Stockers and Order Fillers3,260$34,890

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

77% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 82% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
76.7%
Top 8% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
81.9%
Top 13% in Virginia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Cave Spring HighRoanoke County Public Schools1,04615.6
Hidden Valley HighRoanoke County Public Schools83215.4
Cave Spring MiddleRoanoke County Public Schools74614.182%82%
Hidden Valley MiddleRoanoke County Public Schools58113.877%82%
Cave Spring ElementaryRoanoke County Public Schools48915.877%82%
Green Valley ElementaryRoanoke County Public Schools48314.263%75%
Penn Forest ElementaryRoanoke County Public Schools40815.183%90%
Oak Grove ElementaryRoanoke County Public Schools40012.977%80%
Back Creek ElementaryRoanoke County Public Schools27414.475%85%

30.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Virginia’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,285 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.7 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
17.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,285
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$325,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.72Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate69.5%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±49511,721Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$67$1,285Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,103$325,800Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.6%Bottom 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.8%Bottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 29°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 42.8 inches, including 14.8 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ROANOKE RGNL AP, 6.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation42.8"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall14.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low29°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing40°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

82 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, lightning and landslide.

LandslideModerate
LightningModerate
HurricaneModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, inland flooding, winter weather, earthquake, avalanche, cold wave, hail, ice storm, wildfire, tornado, heat wave, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 78 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Piedmont Triad IntlGSO78 mi10,001 ft
Raleigh-Durham IntlRDU115 mi10,000 ft
Tri-CitiesTRI143 mi8,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Other cities in Roanoke, VA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
RoanokeRoanoke city98,35556vs Cave Spring
SalemRoanoke County25,61863vs Cave Spring
HollinsRoanoke County17,097vs Cave Spring

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Cave Spring

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2401838,720$90,885