Sterling, Virginia · 20164, 20165 and 20166, Loudoun County
Next to Dulles, at about Ashburn's price per square foot, with a median house price $406,700 below Ashburn's in 2026.
Dulles Airport's terminal at dusk· South edge of Sterling
Artist's renderings of real Sterling places.
Northern Virginia Guide › Loudoun County › Sterling
Updated October 2, 2026Bright MLS, closed January 1 to October 2, 20261
Quick answer
The median single-family home in Sterling sold for $780,000 in 2026 and went under contract in six days, and more than half sold above the asking price.
Sterling is the eastern edge of Loudoun County, along Route 7 and Route 28 next to Dulles Airport. Its neighborhoods run from Sterling Park, Loudoun's first large planned community, opened in 1963, to Countryside and Cascades. This page shows what a house or townhouse costs, how buyers pay, what it rents for, which high schools serve it, and the commute. Every number is from Bright MLS closed sales, not from a listing site's estimate.
You reach me, not a call center. Calls and texts go to my own phone, and I never sell your name to other agents.
Six numbers that describe Sterling.
★ Closed sales, January 1 to October 2, 20261
Sterling is an unincorporated community. The Sterling postal city covers zips 20164, 20165 and 20166, including Cascades and Countryside; Potomac Falls and Dulles are separate postal cities in Bright MLS and are not counted here. Single-family means a detached house with at least three bedrooms and two full baths; townhouse means end-of-row and interior-row homes; condo-owned homes, including townhouses sold as condominiums, are left out of both. Source: Bright MLS, closed sales January 1 to October 2, 2026, Postal City = Sterling, County = Loudoun, pulled by Ahmed Makkiyah on October 2, 2026.
Why people choose Sterling
Cash sales, Loudoun taxes and townhouses at a median $592,500.
A short drive to work along Route 28 and at Dulles; cash on one in five houses under $660,000; and townhouses at a median of $592,500.
Buyers choose Sterling over Ashburn for $406,700 less at the median and the same price per foot, and give up newer construction. They choose it over Herndon ($879,000) for a lower price and Loudoun's lower tax rate, and they keep the Route 28 drive to Dulles and the Toll Road. If you are torn between Sterling and Ashburn, decide on the high school and the size of house you need first; the price follows.
Prices
$780,000 for the median house and $592,500 for the median townhouse in Sterling.
On the Loudoun County chart, Sterling's median house sold for $140,000 less than Purcellville ($920,000) and $406,700 less than Ashburn ($1,186,700), at almost the same price per square foot as Ashburn: $384 against $385.
The houses. 280 houses sold, from $425,000 (the lowest sale) to $1,800,000 (the highest), and half of them for $780,000 or less. 156 were in 20164 and 120 in 20165, the zip of Countryside and Cascades; only 4 were in 20166, by Dulles. They are older and smaller than Ashburn's, which is why the same price per foot buys a lower total.
The bidding. 53% sold above asking and 64% went under contract within a week, more than Ashburn (48% over asking). The median sale price was 100.2% of the asking price (the sold-to-list ratio), so the typical winning offer was at the asking price or a little above it, not far above it.
Townhouses. 210 sold at a median of $592,500, from $290,000 (the lowest sale) to $1,000,000 (the highest), at $313 a square foot. That is less than Leesburg ($700,000), Ashburn ($740,000) or Herndon ($652,500). 20166, around Dulles, is townhouse country: 51 townhouse sales and 4 houses.
Median single-family sale price, Loudoun County, 20262
Middleburg, Loudoun County side, $1,765,000; Waterford $1,425,000; Lansdowne, a community in the Leesburg address, $1,350,000; Aldie $1,348,862; Brambleton $1,204,938; Hamilton $1,200,000; Ashburn $1,186,700; Leesburg $1,140,000; South Riding, the Loudoun side of the Chantilly address (zip 20152), $1,140,000; Broadlands $1,127,180; Cascades, a community in the Sterling address, $1,010,000; Purcellville $920,000; Round Hill $850,000; Lovettsville $850,000; Sterling $780,000.
Bright MLS closed sales in Loudoun County, January 1 to October 2, 2026 (October 4 for the eight smaller towns), detached houses with 3+ bedrooms and 2+ full baths, condo-owned homes left out. Brambleton and Broadlands are their own postal cities, so Ashburn here leaves them out. South Riding (20152) is the Loudoun side of the Chantilly mailing address, nearly all of it South Riding. Hamilton, Purcellville, Round Hill, Lovettsville, Waterford and Middleburg are western Loudoun; Middleburg means the Loudoun County side of its address only. Lansdowne and Cascades are communities selected by zip code and subdivision name inside the Leesburg (20176) and Sterling (20165) addresses, so their sales overlap those rows. Upperville, Bluemont, Hillsboro and the other small places have too few sales to chart.
Townhouse view: each place's median townhouse sale price and number of townhouse sales (end-of-row and interior-row townhouses, condo-owned homes left out), from the same Bright MLS searches as each place's own page, closed January 1 to October 2, 2026 for Aldie, Ashburn, Brambleton, Broadlands, Leesburg, South Riding and Sterling, and to October 4 for the other eight places. A gray bar means fewer than 10 townhouses sold, too few to give a median.
| Measure | Houses | Townhouses |
|---|---|---|
| Homes sold | 280 | 210 |
| Median sold price | $780,000 | $592,500 |
| Average sold price | $836,116 | $589,457 |
| Median price per square foot | $384 | $313 |
| Median days to contract | 6 | 6 |
| Median sale price as a share of asking | 100.2% | 100.0% |
| Sold above asking | 149 (53.2%) | 91 (43.3%) |
| Under contract within 7 days | 63.6% | 61.4% |
| Lowest sale | $425,000 | $290,000 |
| Highest sale | $1,800,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Cash sales | 37 (13.2%) | 16 (7.6%) |
One house listed at $425,000 sold for $530,000 in cash, 125% of asking, the pattern of a house sold as-is (no repairs by the seller) with competing cash offers. Two townhouses went the other way, $359,900 on a $459,900 list and $480,000 on $595,000, after big price cuts. The average sold-to-list was 101.0% for houses and 100.2% for townhouses; the medians are the better guide.
Sterling townhouse prices since 2019
Median- 2019: $405,500 median, 398 sales
- 2020: $432,000 median, 353 sales
- 2021: $485,000 median, 456 sales
- 2022: $545,000 median, 308 sales
- 2023: $562,000 median, 245 sales
- 2024: $615,000 median, 227 sales
- 2025: $600,000 median, 240 sales
- 2026: $592,500 median, 210 sales
Median sale price of Sterling townhouses (end-of-row and interior-row, not condo-owned), January 1 to September 30 each year, 2019 to 2026. Source: Bright MLS closed sales pulled by Ahmed Makkiyah, October 2026. Single-family homes and townhouses only; no condos.
Lowest and highest sales, 2026
A guide, not a price tag. The median is the middle sale: half the homes sold for more and half for less. It gives you a feel for prices here, not the price of any one home, and you'll always find homes above and below it, like the lowest and highest sales below.
Sterling closed sales, January 1 to October 2, 2026 (Bright MLS). Single-family means 3+ bedrooms and 2+ full baths; condo-owned homes, including townhouses sold as condominiums, are not counted.
- LowestCheapest single-family house$425,000lowest of 280 single-family sales, January 1 to October 2, 2026
- HighestHighest single-family house$1,800,000highest of 280 single-family sales, January 1 to October 2, 2026
- LowestCheapest townhouse$290,000lowest of 210 townhouse sales, January 1 to October 2, 2026
- HighestHighest townhouse$1,000,000highest of 210 townhouse sales, January 1 to October 2, 2026
What can you afford in Sterling? Start from the monthly payment you can live with, not the price. Loudoun's tax rate is lower than Fairfax County's, and most Sterling neighborhoods have an HOA; the calculator adds both for you.
Follow the money
About one house buyer in eight paid cash, 37 of 280.
In 2026, 37 of 280 Sterling house buyers paid cash, $29.1 million of the $234.1 million spent, or 12.4% of the dollars. Cash buyers paid a median of $795,000, against $780,000 for buyers with a loan.
Share of house sales paid in cash, by price, 2026
Under $660,000 20% (13 of 64); $660,000 to $780,000 7% (5 of 75); $780,000 to $960,000 18% (13 of 71); $960,000 and up 9% (6 of 70).
One in five houses under $660,000 sold for cash, including the $530,000 as-is sale at 125% of asking; the cash share falls to 7% just below the median and rises to 18% just above it. Sterling's 13.2% is more than Herndon (8.2%) and less than Ashburn (16.9%).
How 280 Sterling house purchases were paid for, 2026
280 sales: conventional 203 · cash 37 · VA 24 · FHA and other 16
About one buyer in twelve used a VA loan, 24 of 280, and 7 used FHA. The other 9 were VHDA (Virginia Housing, the state housing finance agency), private, owner-financed and other loans.
What that means if you need a loan: most of the time you are competing with other financed buyers, but at the low end one buyer in five has cash, and more than half of all houses sold over asking. Under $660,000, an FHA or VA offer needs a full pre-approval, a short inspection window and a clear plan for an appraisal gap to beat a cash offer.
Townhouses: 162 of 210 buyers used a conventional loan, 16 paid cash, 16 used FHA and 11 VA, and the rest VHDA, private or other loans. Cash bought the cheaper townhouses, a median of $570,000 against $595,550 financed, and 13.5% of townhouses under $520,000 sold for cash. Mixed cash-and-loan deals were counted as financed.
The interesting facts
A median $384 a square foot, the same as Ashburn, for a smaller and older house.
Four things in the 2026 numbers that set Sterling apart.
Same price per foot, smaller house. Sterling and Ashburn houses both sold for a median of about $385 a square foot. Ashburn's median was $1,186,700 because its houses are bigger and newer; Sterling's older neighborhoods, from 1963 to the 1990s, put a Loudoun County house at $780,000.
What sells. Homes a short drive from work along Route 28 and at Dulles, cash sales at the low end, and townhouses at the entry price.
A renter's town for townhomes. 272 townhomes were rented in 2026 against 210 sold, and a townhome earns a 6.1% gross yield, a house 5.7%. An Ashburn house earns about 4.6%. If you are buying to rent out, Sterling's numbers work better.
Rent or buy
A Sterling house sells for 17.6 years of rent, a townhouse for 16.3.
A Sterling house rents for a median of $3,700 a month and sells for $780,000, a price-to-rent ratio of 17.6; a townhome rents for $3,025 and sells for $592,500, a ratio of 16.3.1
| Measure | Houses | Townhomes |
|---|---|---|
| Homes rented | 75 | 272 |
| Median monthly rent | $3,700 | $3,025 |
| Average monthly rent | $3,778 | $3,040 |
| Gross rental yield | 5.7% | 6.1% |
| Rent range, lowest to highest lease | $2,595 to $5,500 | $2,100 to $4,500 |
Gross yield is a year's rent divided by the price, before the mortgage, tax, HOA, insurance and upkeep. The lower the ratio, the sooner owning beats renting: Sterling's 17.6 for a house is below Herndon (19.3), Chantilly's Fairfax side (21.2) or Ashburn (about 22), so anyone who plans to stay several years usually does better buying.
Own in Sterling already? More than half the houses sold above asking this year. Ahmed runs a real comparative analysis against the 490 sales on this page, on your street and in your zip, not a website estimate.
The houses
Sterling Park from 1963, Countryside by 1991, and Cascades with about 6,500 homes.
Sterling grew up with Dulles Airport, dedicated in 1962. Sterling Park came first; Countryside and Cascades followed in the 1980s and 1990s as planned communities with their own HOAs.
Sterling Park. Opened in 1963 as Loudoun County's first large-scale planned community. Many of the early houses were prefabricated by U.S. Steel and came with air conditioning for less than a comparable house in Fairfax County.
Countryside (20165). More than 2,500 homes, a mix of houses, townhouses and condominiums, built from the early 1980s and finished in 1991, with mature trees.
Cascades (20165). A planned community of about 6,500 homes on 2,500 acres; its homeowners association was incorporated in 1990. Some Cascades-area homes are listed under the Potomac Falls postal city, 12 sales in 2026, which are not in this page's numbers. Cascades has its own page, counted by subdivision across both postal cities: 27 houses sold there in 2026 at a median of $1,010,000.
Sugarland Run and the Dulles side. Sugarland Run is home to Dominion High. In 20166, toward the airport, nearly everything sold was a townhouse: 51 against 4 houses.
What to check. The HOA resale package with dues and any special assessment; the age of the roof, windows and HVAC on a 1960s to 1980s house; the flight paths at the hour you would be home; and whether the listing is Sterling, Potomac Falls or Dulles, since each is a separate search.
Schools
Dominion, Potomac Falls and Park View high schools, in Loudoun County Public Schools.
All of Sterling is Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS). The high school depends on the street; the three named here rank #69, #102 and #211 in Virginia on US News.3
Dominion High School
In Sugarland Run. Niche A- and #14 among Loudoun County public high schools; US News #69 in Virginia, and 87% graduate in four years.
Potomac Falls High School
Niche A- and #71 in Virginia; US News #102 in Virginia, and 91% graduate in four years.
Park View High School
Niche B-; US News #211 in Virginia, with a 78% four-year graduation rate. Visit and ask about its programs before you decide.
Academies of Loudoun
LCPS's application-based STEM and technical high school program, open to students from every Loudoun high school, Sterling's included.
ADAMS Center
On Sugarland Road, founded in 1983. ADAMS has ten branches from Sterling to DC, with daily and Friday prayer.
AQSA and NAIF
The AQSA Center on Acacia Lane in 20166, with daily prayer and Qur'an classes, and the NAIF Center on Shaw Road in 20164.
Halal 4 All
Al Rehma Halal Meat and Supermarket on Davenport Drive; the store says everything it sells is certified halal.
Sunshine and Fair Price
Sunshine Grocery & Halal Meat on Dulles Eastern Plaza cuts meat and fish to order; Fair Price Market on Overland Drive has Indo-Pak and Middle Eastern groceries and halal meat.
Two houses a few streets apart in Sterling can feed different high schools, and the listing is not always right. Check any address with the LCPS school boundary locator, and ask Ahmed to confirm it before you offer.
Commute
Ten minutes to Dulles, and commuter buses from the Loudoun Gateway Metro station.
Sterling sits on Route 7 and Route 28, next to Dulles Airport. The Silver Line's Loudoun Gateway station has a Sterling address, and Innovation Center station is a short drive south on Route 28.
| To | Drive | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown DC | 50 to 85 min | Route 28 to the Dulles Toll Road and I-66 |
| Pentagon | 45 to 70 min | Dulles Toll Road to I-66, or the 482 bus |
| Tysons | 25 to 45 min | Route 7 east, or the Dulles Toll Road |
| Reston Town Center | 15 to 25 min | Route 28 to the Dulles Toll Road |
| Dulles Airport | 10 to 15 min | Route 28 south |
On April 1, 2026, Loudoun County Transit moved its commuter buses to the Loudoun Gateway station, where garage parking is free. Routes 481 and 486 run to downtown DC in the morning and route 482 to Rosslyn, the Pentagon and Crystal City, with return trips in the late afternoon.5 The Silver Line from the same station runs through Tysons to DC. The Dulles Toll Road charges a toll each way, so a daily drive adds up; Route 7 is free but slow at rush hour. Ahmed will do the 7:45 drive with you before you offer.
Daily life
The Potomac at Algonkian Park, and halal shops on Davenport Drive.
Outdoors and sights. Algonkian Regional Park runs along the Potomac River, and Claude Moore Park is a Loudoun County park in Sterling with walking trails. The W&OD Trail crosses Sterling on its way from Arlington to Purcellville. Dulles Town Center is the mall, and the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center, with the Space Shuttle Discovery, is a short drive south on Route 28.
Food and groceries. Davenport Drive has Toosso for Pakistani food, La Promesa for pupusas and Halal 4 All for meat; Community Plaza has Laziz Kabob and Pollos Inti; Dulles Eastern Plaza has Sunshine Grocery & Halal Meat and Super Chicken.
Taxes.4 Sterling is unincorporated Loudoun County, with no town tax. The 2026 rate is $0.805 per $100 of assessed value, about $6,300 a year on a $780,000 house, before HOA dues. At Fairfax County's 2026 county-wide rate of about $1.15 per $100 of assessed value (the $1.12 base rate plus its stormwater and forest-pest levies), the same house would pay about $9,000.
Car tax. Loudoun cut its vehicle tax rate to $3.09 per $100 for 2026 and plans $2.94 for 2027.
How Sterling rates
How Sterling rates: quiet, walkable, transit and more, from 0 to 10.
Each score ranks Sterling among the 46 towns in this guide: 10 is the top of the list, 0 the bottom. It is not a national score. The real number and its source sit under each one.
60% of the land is under 50 dB of 24-hour road, rail and plane noise; 10% is at 60 dB or more. Check your street’s noise
US DOT National Transportation Noise Map, 2020 (road, rail and aviation)
8.2 of 20 on the EPA walkability index; 127 everyday shops and pharmacies mapped.
EPA National Walkability Index, version 3.0 (2021)
5.5 bus stops within half a mile of the average home; 5% of people live within 1 mile of a Metro or VRE station (inside the town: Concourse A, Concourse B, Loudoun Gateway, Main Terminal, Washington Dulles International Airport).
OpenStreetMap, map data of October 20, 2026, plus Fairfax Connector, Loudoun County Transit and OmniRide schedules; homes = 2020 Census neighborhoods (block groups)
15.3 miles of bike lanes and bike trails (0.3 per square mile); no Capital Bikeshare stations.
OpenStreetMap, map data of October 20, 2026; Capital Bikeshare station feed
43 restaurants, bars, music venues, theaters and cinemas within 1 mile of the average home (486 inside the town).
Overture Maps places, October 2026 release (open places only); homes = 2020 Census neighborhoods (block groups)
12 grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware and everyday shops within 1 mile of the average home; 85% of people live within 1 mile of a grocery store.
Overture Maps places, October 2026 release (open places only); homes = 2020 Census neighborhoods (block groups)
60% of people live within half a mile of a park; 1,045 acres of parks and nature preserves, 4% of the land.
OpenStreetMap, map data of October 20, 2026
The area is ZIP codes 20164, 20165 and 20166 as the Census Bureau maps them (44.64 square miles). We rate places, never people, so there is no school, safety or “who lives here” score. Map counts are what the sources have mapped and can miss a place. Scored October 22, 2026; updated every six months.
Where to eat
Best restaurants in Sterling, VA: Ahmed's list (2026)
"Ahmed, where do you go to eat?" The Sterling list.
Updated
Up to five picks within about fifteen minutes of Sterling in each cuisine, the one doing best at the top, and halal marked. Many are on Davenport Drive, Community Plaza and Dulles Eastern Plaza; a few of the best are just across Route 28 in Herndon.7
Not ranked yet: Swadi Pakistani Kitchen has 4.3 on only 6 reviews, and Mehran Restaurant on Oakgrove Road had no rating to compare. Karahi Boys and Halal 4 All show their Zabihah listing because no Yelp count could be confirmed. Rankings weigh current Yelp ratings by review count; the halal note comes from Zabihah, Yelp or the restaurant itself, and "ask about halal" means it could not be confirmed. Hours change, so call ahead. Know one that belongs here? Tell Ahmed.
Questions
What people ask about Sterling.
How much does a house cost in Sterling, Virginia in 2026?
The median single-family home (3+ bedrooms, 2+ full baths) in Sterling sold for $780,000 in 2026 through October 2, across 280 sales in Bright MLS, at $384 per square foot. The median townhouse sold for $592,500 across 210 sales. That is less than Ashburn ($1,186,700), Leesburg ($1,140,000) or Herndon ($879,000). Condo-owned homes are not included.
What was the cheapest home sold in Sterling, Virginia in 2026?
Bright MLS closed sales from January 1 to October 2, 2026, single-family houses (3+ bedrooms, 2+ full baths) and townhouses only, no condos:
- Cheapest single-family house: $425,000, the lowest of 280 single-family sales
- Cheapest townhouse: $290,000, the lowest of 210 townhouse sales
- Highest single-family house: $1,800,000, the highest of 280 single-family sales
- Highest townhouse: $1,000,000, the highest of 210 townhouse sales
Want a home near these prices? Ask Ahmed, or call or text 734.383.6945 or 703.957.0060.
Is the median price what a home in Sterling will cost?
No. The median is the middle sale of 2026, not a set price: half the single-family houses sold for more and half for less. In Sterling they sold from $425,000 to $1,800,000. Use the median to get a feel for the market, then look at homes on both sides of it.
How competitive is the Sterling housing market?
Competitive: in 2026, 53% of single-family homes sold above the asking price, 64% went under contract within a week, and the median house took 6 days. Townhouses also took a median of 6 days, and 43% sold over asking.
Do Sterling buyers pay cash or use VA loans?
About one house buyer in eight paid cash: 37 of 280 in 2026 (13.2%), while 203 used a conventional loan and 24 a VA loan. Cash was most common under $660,000, where 13 of 64 houses sold for cash. Among townhouses, 16 of 210 buyers paid cash and 16 used FHA loans.
What is rent in Sterling, Virginia?
In 2026 the median single-family house leased for $3,700 a month across 75 leases, and the median townhome for $3,025 across 272 leases. More townhomes were rented than sold, 272 against 210.
Is it better to rent or buy in Sterling?
A median house sells for 17.6 times its yearly rent and a townhouse for 16.3 times, gross yields of 5.7% and 6.1%. Both ratios are below Herndon (19.3 for a house) and Chantilly's Fairfax side (21.2), and the lower the ratio, the sooner owning beats renting, so anyone who plans to stay several years usually does better buying.
Which high schools serve Sterling?
Sterling is in Loudoun County Public Schools. Its high schools include Dominion (Niche A-, US News #69 in Virginia), Potomac Falls (Niche A-, US News #102) and Park View (Niche B-, US News #211). The high school depends on the street, so check any address with the LCPS boundary locator before you offer.
How long is the commute from Sterling to DC?
At 8 am on a weekday, downtown DC is about 50 to 85 minutes by car on Route 28, the Dulles Toll Road and I-66, the Pentagon 45 to 70, Tysons 25 to 45, Reston Town Center 15 to 25 and Dulles Airport 10 to 15. Loudoun County Transit commuter buses to DC and the Pentagon leave from the Loudoun Gateway Silver Line station, where garage parking is free. These drive times are estimates.
What is the property tax in Sterling, Virginia?
Sterling is unincorporated Loudoun County, so there is no town tax. The 2026 rate is $0.805 per $100 of assessed value, roughly $6,300 a year on a $780,000 house, before HOA dues. The vehicle tax rate is $3.09 per $100 for 2026, with a planned cut to $2.94 for 2027.
Your next step
Buying or selling in Sterling?
Thinking about buying in Sterling?
Start with what homes here really sold for, then the tax and the monthly payment.
Own a home in Sterling?
A median is the middle sale, not the price of your home. The lot, the condition and the street can put yours well above or below it.
Ask Ahmed
Tell me what you are looking for in Sterling.
Buying your first townhouse, moving up to a bigger house, or selling where more than half the houses went over asking. Send the situation and get the numbers back, in English or Arabic, not a pitch.
For owners
What's my Sterling home worth?
Send a message
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Next door, and the tools.
Ashburn
The end of the Silver Line.
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Tax, insurance and HOA included
Learn more ToolHome valuation
Priced on evidence.
A real comparative analysis, not a website estimate
Learn more Loudoun CountyLeesburg
A historic town where 433 houses sold in 2026.
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Learn moreKeep reading
- County guideLoudoun CountyEvery Loudoun County town: prices, schools, taxes and commute.
- Monthly reportHousing market reportThe NoVA Index: what homes sold for, month by month.
- EstimatorSterling home valueA live range for a Sterling home from 2026 sales, by size and condition.
- Living hereLiving near a data centerLoudoun's data center map, the rules on noise and distance, and how to check any address.