Best Places23228, VA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 23228, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

23228 ranks 11,857th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on transit, and the weather ranks lowest.

#11,857
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 23228

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 23228 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

23228's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 23228 with other zip codes.

Where 23228 ranks high

  • TransitBetter than 83% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of zip codes
  • Cell coverageBetter than 81% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than 80% of zip codes

Where 23228 ranks low

  • Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 16% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than only 25% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 27% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 23228

A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 23228 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,947, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$72,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,690
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $282,631 home
Median rent
$1,553
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,441
Property tax$155
Homeowners insurance$94

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 23228's effective rate of 0.66%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 23228

23228 runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
38
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
15%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1818%
18 to 3427%
35 to 4921%
50 to 6418%
65 and older15%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 23228.


Who works in 23228, and how

Work in 23228 centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
18%
above the national average
Unemployment
3.1%
below the national average
Job growth
+0.7%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social14%
Retail trade13%
Finance & insurance9%
Construction8%
Education7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 78%
  • Work from home 18%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 23228

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 23228.

Places to eat and drink
139
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 37.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 55% of zip codes
Coffee shops
13
about 3.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 57% of zip codes
Parkland
88 acres
about 2.4 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 63% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 23228, month by month

23228 sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January51°39°28°
April74°59°46°
July92°80°69°
October75°61°49°

Flying in and out of 23228

Richmond International sits about 13 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
RIC
Richmond International, about 13 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
65th-busiest in the US, 72 nonstop destinations
Average drive
18 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 23228

Schools across 23228 average a B−, better than 61% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 23228 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


23228 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 23228 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 23228 suits

Families

Schools beat 61% of zip codes.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

18% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 23228

Is 23228 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 23228 ranks 11,857th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on transit, cheap car insurance, and low disaster risk, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 23228 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $282,631. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $74,947 median income, cost of living beats 61% of zip codes.

Is 23228 safe?

23228 is safer than 25% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $452 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 23228?

July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 28. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 10% of zip codes.

Is 23228 good for families?

Schools beat 61% of zip codes, crime safety beats 25%, and childcare runs $1,030 a month.


Compare 23228 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 23228. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 23228 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.

23228 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 23228: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 23228: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 23228: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 23228: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

23228 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.