Best Places23883, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 23883, 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.
23883 ranks 20,308th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 23883
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.
23883's strengths and weaknesses
Where 23883 ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than 90% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of zip codes
- School gradeB+, better than 82% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of zip codes
Where 23883 ranks low
- Short commute40.0 minutes each way, better than only 4% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of zip codes
- Heat safetyBetter than only 18% of zip codes
- Health outlookBetter than only 19% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 23883
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 23883 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $73,358; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 23883's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 23883
23883 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 23883.
Who works in 23883, and how
Work in 23883 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in 23883
The coast is about 44 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 23883, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 23883, month by month
23883 sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 76° | 65° | 57° |
Flying in and out of 23883
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 40 miles away.
The best schools in and around 23883
Schools across 23883 average a B+, better than 82% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Hardy ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Surry ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westside ElementaryA · 61% proficient
- Luther P. Jackson MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Surry County HighA · 78% proficient
- Smithfield HighA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 23883 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
23883 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 23883 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 23883
Is 23883 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 23883 ranks 20,308th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on civic engagement, quiet, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on long commutes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 23883 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $294,570. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $73,358 median income, cost of living beats 53% of zip codes.
Is 23883 safe?
23883 is safer than 24% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $442 per resident a year.
Compare 23883 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 23883. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 23883 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.
23883 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 23883: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 23883: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 23883: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 23883: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
23883 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.