22601 — Winchester, Virginia
Area Profile
Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 22601.
Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 3.9% and the Opportunity signal places 22601 in the bottom 24%.
Residential permitting has slowed: 63 units authorized over the past twelve months, 44% below the prior year.
Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 22601 in the top 24% for physical resilience.
These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.9% is lower than 71% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.
Employment fell 2.6% over the past year, to 13,938 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$2,561 | $64,258 | Bottom 37%of 31,197 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2,113 | $36,719 | Top 50%of 32,822 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 20.7% | Top 17%of 32,970 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 22.0 min | Bottom 20%of 32,887 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 31.1% | Top 32%of 33,193 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 13,938 | Bottom 8%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -4.9% | Bottom 4%of 6,542 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -2.6% | Bottom 12%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 14,509 | Bottom 8%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 65.0% | Top 33%of 33,252 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $60,410 | Bottom 20%of 6,072 | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $47,070 | Bottom 20%of 6,072 | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.5% | Top 31%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.9% | Bottom 29%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Salespersons | 2,290 | $30,780 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 1,840 | $36,170 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 1,700 | $28,360 |
| Cashiers | 1,690 | $29,600 |
| Registered Nurses | 1,630 | $95,650 |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 1,580 | $41,910 |
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 Winchester, VA, the city containing this ZIP code.
Schools
How it’s calculated →45% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 55% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 16.9 students for every full-time teacher across 8 public schools, more than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Handley High | Winchester City Public Schools | 1,361 | 22.0 | — | — |
| James Wood Middle | Frederick County Public Schools | 873 | 12.7 | 32% | 47% |
| Daniel Morgan Middle | Winchester City Public Schools | 642 | 22.1 | 55% | 62% |
| John Kerr Elementary | Winchester City Public Schools | 583 | 14.9 | 51% | 59% |
| Daniel Morgan Intermediate | Winchester City Public Schools | 575 | 21.3 | 37% | 52% |
| Virginia Avenue Charlotte Dehart Elementary | Winchester City Public Schools | 415 | 15.4 | 50% | 57% |
| Garland R. Quarles Elementary | Winchester City Public Schools | 410 | 14.6 | 50% | 55% |
| Frederick Douglass Elementary | Winchester City Public Schools | 376 | 13.0 | 50% | 59% |
81.8% 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 →Prices for everything a household buys run about 5% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 94.6, against 100 for the nation. Housing drives most of that difference.
A new two-bedroom lease runs about $1,573, some 18% above the $1,335 tenants already here pay — the market has moved faster than sitting tenancies have.
Median rent of $1,335 takes 25% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home at $339,800 costs 5.3 times the median household income of $64,258, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.
Prices here run about 5% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of living index | 94.6 | Bottom 29%of 6,071 | 2023 |
| Home price to income | 5.29 | Top 14%of 30,081 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 43.8% | Bottom 6%of 32,750 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±199 | 13,216 | Top 11%of 33,460 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Market rent, one bedroom | $1,255 | Bottom 43%of 6,478 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, three bedroom | $1,965 | Bottom 43%of 6,478 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, two bedroom | $1,573 | Bottom 47%of 6,478 | FY2026 |
| Median gross rent ±$63 | $1,335 | Top 28%of 26,533 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$17,984 | $339,800 | Top 27%of 30,941 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 24.9% | Top 15%of 26,176 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 8.3% | Bottom 39%of 32,851 | 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 →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: of 63 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.
At 2.3 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 Winchester, VA, the city containing this ZIP code.
Weather & climate
6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 24°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 39.0 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 39.0" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 24°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 87°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 6 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 43°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 hurricane, earthquake and cold wave.
Overall hazard risk is lower than 93% of measured US ZIP areas.
Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, heat wave, strong wind, hail, inland flooding, lightning, tornado, landslide, ice storm, wildfire, drought, avalanche.
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 offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
Winchester city records 3.1 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 10.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 8.3 per 100,000 residents in Winchester 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 Winchester city as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city center and a quiet suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 22601 rather than 22601 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
Some things people look for are not on this page, and each is absent 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
- Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. Any cities listed on this page carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
- Taxes
- Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualized 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 neighborhood all vary within the places measured here.
Access
2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Washington Dulles Intl at 41 miles.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Dulles Intl | IAD | 41 mi | 11,500 ft |
| Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood Marshall | BWI | 81 mi | 10,503 ft |
| Arnold Palmer Rgnl | LBE | 100 mi | 8,222 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) |
| Housing | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional price parities and county personal income | 2023 | Annually, each December |
| 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) |
| 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) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| 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 |
| Schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
| Housing | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research Fair Market Rents | FY2026 | Annually, each October for the coming fiscal year |
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.
22601 vs Winchester
How this ZIP area compares with Winchester 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.