24142 — Radford, Virginia
Area Profile
Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 24142.
Missing required signal: opportunity. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.
Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 24142 in the top 23% for physical resilience.
A typical July reaches 84°F and a typical January falls to 23°F, on thirty-year normals.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 5.9% is lower than 9% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.
Employment fell 2.2% over the past year, to 7,831 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per capita income ±$1,161 | $6,216 | Bottom 1%of 32,822 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 12.1 min | Bottom 2%of 32,887 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 0.0% | Bottom 1%of 33,193 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 7,831 | Bottom 1%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -5.4% | Bottom 3%of 6,542 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -2.2% | Bottom 15%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 8,323 | Bottom 1%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 38.7% | Bottom 7%of 33,252 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $61,090 | Bottom 23%of 6,072 | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $48,120 | Bottom 27%of 6,072 | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.4% | Top 34%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 5.9% | Top 9%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators | 2,450 | $45,950 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 2,230 | $28,300 |
| Cashiers | 1,790 | $28,770 |
| Retail Salespersons | 1,690 | $31,780 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 1,520 | $34,880 |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 1,480 | $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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Radford, VA, the city containing this ZIP code.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →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.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 0.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.
The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Radford, VA, the city containing this ZIP code.
Weather & climate
5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 23°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 42.1 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 42.1" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 23°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 84°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 40°F | 1991-2020 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
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake and lightning.
Overall hazard risk is lower than 100% of measured US ZIP areas.
Low or minimal exposure: landslide, hurricane, cold wave, winter weather, strong wind, inland flooding, hail, tornado, ice storm, wildfire.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
Safety
How it’s measured →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.
Radford city records 4.5 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 16.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 21.6 per 100,000 residents in Radford city.
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 Radford city 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 24142 rather than 24142 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
- Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
- Taxes and full cost of living
- No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.
Access
1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 79 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piedmont Triad Intl | GSO | 79 mi | 10,001 ft |
| Tri-Cities | TRI | 112 mi | 8,000 ft |
| Raleigh-Durham Intl | RDU | 131 mi | 10,000 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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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
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.
24142 vs Radford
How this ZIP area compares with Radford as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.
Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.