Roanoke City
Typical home signal around $217,500.
Credit
Photo: Acroterion / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Resized and re-encoded for web
Moving to Roanoke Metro from San Francisco
For people leaving San Francisco, Southwest Virginia is one of the better-value places to land. Housing and taxes cost a good deal less here, and you're right next to the Blue Ridge.
12.3% → 5.75%
Top income tax (CA vs VA)
0.75% → ~1%
Property tax rate
~54% lower
Cost of living vs San Francisco
$289,975
Median home here
Taxes
CA's top income tax rate is 12.3% versus Virginia's 5.75%, and property taxes run about 0.75% there versus roughly 1% across the region. On a $289,975 home that's a meaningful annual difference.
Cost of living & housing
Overall costs run about 54% lower here than in San Francisco. It takes only about $91,667 here to match a $200,000 lifestyle there. The $289,975 median home here would run on the order of $625,564 back in San Francisco.
Where to live
For a first pass, compare both the numbers and the lifestyle fit. These are useful starting points before you narrow to specific homes.
Roanoke County
0 walkable spots in the amenity scan.
Salem
Salem is an independent city inside the Roanoke metro that still feels like a small town. It runs its own school division and takes Friday-night football seriously.
Then compare the broader area numbers:
| Area | Median price | Tax /$100 |
|---|---|---|
| Roanoke County | $315,000 | 1.09 |
| Roanoke City | $217,500 | 1.22 |
| Salem | $289,975 | 1.19 |
Next steps
Run your numbersUse your actual income, current home value, and target area so the tax and affordability estimate is not generic.
Shortlist two or three areasPick one budget-first option, one commute-first option, and one daily-life option before looking at individual listings.
Check freshnessUse the source notes on each area page, especially where sale data is sparse or assessed values are used as a fallback.
Compare costs in the moving guide →
Sources and freshnessLast rebuilt 2026-09-14 with public records and source notes for moving from San Francisco to Roanoke Metro.
- Last rebuilt 2026-09-14 from the latest records synced into this guide.
- Home-price medians use 48,698 recorded public sale rows across 3 areas.
- Property and tax figures come from county/city parcel, sales, and assessor records.
- School metrics use Virginia Department of Education profiles when available.
- Amenity and business counts use OpenStreetMap, so hours and listings can change.
- Jobs, events, news, and business-directory layers are included only after their feeds or curated sources sync.
- Use these figures as planning estimates, then verify taxes, listings, and school details before making an offer.
Also exploring Southwest Virginia?
This page is focused on Roanoke Metro. Open a neighboring guide when your search crosses into another part of the region.
Open NRV guideOpen Lynchburg guideOpen Charlottesville guideOpen Harrisonburg guideOpen Middle Peninsula guideOpen Winchester guideOpen NoVA guideOpen Bristol guideOpen Wytheville guideOpen SWVA guideOpen Culpeper guideOpen Martinsville guideOpen Southside guideOpen Farmville guideOpen Danville guideOpen Staunton guideOpen Richmond guideOpen Eastern Shore guideOpen Northern Neck guideOpen Alleghany guideOpen Fredericksburg guideOpen Petersburg guideOpen Hampton Roads guide