Best Places22488, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 22488, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
22488 ranks 29,691st of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. Low incomes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in 22488
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
22488's strengths and weaknesses
Where 22488 ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than 82% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than 81% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 79% of zip codes
Where 22488 ranks low
- Household income$41,778 median, better than only 3% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 22488
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 22488 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $41,778, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 22488's effective rate of 0.50%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 22488
22488 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 22488.
Who works in 22488, and how
Work in 22488 centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in 22488
The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 22488, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 22488, month by month
22488 sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of 22488
Richmond International sits about 55 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 22488
Schools across 22488 average a B, better than 63% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Northumberland ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Cople ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northumberland MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- Montross MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Northumberland HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Westmoreland HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 22488 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
22488 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 22488 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 22488
Is 22488 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 22488 ranks 29,691st of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, a strong job market, and low property taxes, and lowest on low incomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 22488 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $361,423. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $41,778 median income, cost of living beats 5% of zip codes.
Is 22488 safe?
22488 is safer than 5% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $747 per resident a year.
Compare 22488 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 22488. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 22488 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
22488 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 22488: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 22488: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 22488: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 22488: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
22488 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.