Living in Southwest Virginia

Southwest Virginia is the state's most remote and most Appalachian region in this dataset -- roughly 150 miles further from Roanoke than that region's own southernmost member place, genuinely closer in geography and culture to East Tennessee than to the rest of Virginia. Its 20th-century coal-and-manufacturing economy has genuinely, substantially declined (Bristol alone lost a net 776 jobs since fiscal 2007-08, tied partly to Alpha Natural Resources' 2015 bankruptcy), and this region now carries a real, current mix of investment working to replace it: Bristol's $550 million Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (Virginia's first casino, opened November 2024), Abingdon's nationally significant cultural-tourism anchors (the Barter Theatre, Virginia's official State Theater since 1946, and the Virginia Creeper Trail), and Wytheville's position at the literal crossroads of Interstates 77 and 81. Every member place here prices well below the Virginia statewide median, and the region carries no hurricane risk but genuinely more snowfall than any other Virginia region in this dataset, given its elevation.

Explore Southwest Virginia in depth

• Cost of Living & Housing in Southwest Virginia
• Best Places to Live in Southwest Virginia
• Moving to Southwest Virginia
• Climate & Lifestyle in Southwest Virginia

Places we've researched in Southwest Virginia

• Bristol -- Independent city (Virginia cities are independent of any county)
• Abingdon -- Washington County (Abingdon is the county seat)
• Wytheville -- Wythe County