Best Places24401, VA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 24401, 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

24401 ranks 7,455th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.

#7,455
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 24401

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 24401 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.

24401's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Cheap car insurance
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 24401 with other zip codes.

Where 24401 ranks high

  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than 83% of zip codes
  • School gradeB+, better than 79% of zip codes
  • TransitBetter than 79% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than 78% of zip codes

Where 24401 ranks low

  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 24% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 32% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 42% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 81 pleasant days a year, better than only 46% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 24401

A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 24401 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,604, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$73,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,706
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $287,473 home
Median rent
$1,086
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,466
Property tax$144
Homeowners insurance$96

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 24401's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 10 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 24401

24401 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
43
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
23%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1819%
18 to 3422%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6418%
65 and older23%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 24401.


Who works in 24401, and how

Work in 24401 centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
8%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.6%
below the national average
Job growth
+0.3%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social15%
Retail trade14%
Education13%
Manufacturing10%
Hospitality & food7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 87%
  • Work from home 8%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in 24401

24401 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 94% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 24401 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
193
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 50.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 69% of zip codes
Coffee shops
24
about 6.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 73% of zip codes
Parkland
609 acres
about 15.8 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 94% of zip codes
Open past 10pm
~48
food and drink venues open late, about 12.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 77% of zip codes
Living on campus
683
students living in college or university housing

What the weather is like in 24401, month by month

24401 sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January44°34°24°
April68°54°42°
July87°75°64°
October70°56°45°

Flying in and out of 24401

The nearest airport, Shenandoah Valley Regional, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 103 miles away.

Nearest airport
SHD
Shenandoah Valley Regional, about 13 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
3 nonstop destinations
Average drive
18 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 24401

Schools across 24401 average a B+, better than 79% 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 24401 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


24401 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 24401 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 24401 suits

Families

Schools beat 79% of zip codes and crime safety beats 68%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 72%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 24401

Is 24401 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 24401 ranks 7,455th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, fast internet, and good schools, and lowest on state finances and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 24401 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $287,473. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $73,604 median income, cost of living beats 55% of zip codes.

Is 24401 safe?

Yes, 24401 is safer than 68% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 24401?

July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 24. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of zip codes.

Is 24401 good for families?

Schools beat 79% of zip codes, crime safety beats 68%, and childcare runs $849 a month.


Compare 24401 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 24401. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 24401 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.

24401 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 24401: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 24401: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 24401: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 24401: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

24401 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.