Christiansburg, Virginia

Area Profile

22,720 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Christiansburg, in Montgomery County.

63out of 100
Area Score
Top 41% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3378th of 3,904 published cities37
SchoolsTop 44% of 2,668 published cities56
GrowthTop 32% of 2,973 published cities61
Housing affordabilityTop 17% of 4,223 published cities96
Climate2693rd of 4,223 published cities65
Physical resilienceTop 20% of 4,182 published cities82
Access4080th of 4,226 published cities48
Economic stability2460th of 4,226 published cities56
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.9% and the Opportunity signal places Christiansburg in the bottom 13%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 244 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 1062% on the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Christiansburg in the top 20% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
22,720
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$77,147
Top 37% nationally
Density
1,543/sq mi
14.7 sq mi of land
Median age
39.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Montgomery County
Virginia
Metro area
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA
Nearest major airport
GSO
76 mi · Piedmont Triad Intl
Median home value
$252,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 28% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.1% over the past year, to 44,347 employed residents.

45% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 85% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,645$77,147Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,372$42,322Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.7%Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.0 minBottom 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher44.7%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment44,347Bottom 48%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-7.0%Bottom 1%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.1%Bottom 15%June 2026
Labor force46,621Bottom 48%June 2026
Labor force participation65.6%Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$61,090Bottom 19%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,120Bottom 23%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.5%Top 29%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 28%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202477k64k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $77,147 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 — Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators2,450$45,950
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,230$28,300
Cashiers1,790$28,770
Retail Salespersons1,690$31,780
Stockers and Order Fillers1,520$34,880
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners1,480$34,520

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Montgomery County, VA, which contains this city.

53% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 67% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
8
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
52.9%
Bottom 48% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
67.4%
Top 50% in Virginia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Christiansburg HighMontgomery County Public Schools1,07213.4
Christiansburg MiddleMontgomery County Public Schools77812.247%67%
Falling Branch ElementaryMontgomery County Public Schools53512.457%67%
Christiansburg ElementaryMontgomery County Public Schools40112.959%69%
Christiansburg PrimaryMontgomery County Public Schools34612.4
Montgomery County Governor's STEM AcademyMontgomery County Public Schools0
Montgomery CentralMontgomery County Public Schools0
Altern Ed Prgm/Behav Disord Youth/MontgomeryAlt Ed Prgm/Behav Disord Youth/Montgomery0

48.5% 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 $1,181 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.3 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,181
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$252,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.27Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate59.8%Bottom 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±50211,271Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$54$1,181Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,967$252,600Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.4%Bottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate9.0%Bottom 47%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 →
Development Momentum
61/ 100
Top 32% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 3% since 2020, reaching 22,632 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

74% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 10.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
244
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
10.7
Top 11% nationally
Year over year
+1062%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
73.8%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202423k22k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202220232024202511559
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−5%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 23°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 42.1 inches, including 21.7 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHRISTIANSBURG, 0.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation42.1"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall21.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low23°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing39°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 earthquake, lightning and drought.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 74% of measured US cities.

LandslideModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LightningModerate
DroughtModerate

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

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.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Montgomery County records 2.7 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 14.2 per 100,000 residents in Montgomery County.

Homicide
2.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
14.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
17.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Montgomery County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Christiansburg rather than Christiansburg itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

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.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences 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. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
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 76 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Piedmont Triad IntlGSO76 mi10,001 ft
Tri-CitiesTRI120 mi8,000 ft
Raleigh-Durham IntlRDU125 mi10,000 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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Area Score
63
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Other cities in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BlacksburgMontgomery County45,44651vs Christiansburg
RadfordRadford city16,72655vs Christiansburg

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
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
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 Christiansburg

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2407329,677$76,80063