Best Places24606, VA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 24606, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

24606 ranks 32,181st of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.

#32,181
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 24606

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 24606 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.

24606's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Tree cover
Top 5%Affordable childcare
Top 5%Heat safety
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 24606 with other zip codes.

Where 24606 ranks high

  • Tree shadeBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$480 a month, better than 96% of zip codes
  • Heat safetyBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of zip codes

Where 24606 ranks low

  • QuietBetter than only 1% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of zip codes
  • Household income$29,576 median, better than only 3% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 24606

A household needs to earn about $9,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 24606 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $29,576, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$9,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$201
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $34,100 home
Median rent
$901
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$174
Property tax$16
Homeowners insurance$11

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 24606's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 1 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 24606

24606 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
17%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.2
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 189%
18 to 3425%
35 to 4924%
50 to 6424%
65 and older17%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 24606.


Who works in 24606, and how

Work in 24606 centers on other services and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
9%
below the national average
Unemployment
15.8%
above the national average
Job growth
+0.7%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Other services23%
Retail trade16%
Health care & social13%
Manufacturing11%
Utilities10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 89%
  • Work from home 9%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 1%

Life in 24606

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 24606.


What the weather is like in 24606, month by month

24606 sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 23. 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
January42°32°23°
April66°53°42°
July81°71°62°
October67°55°45°

Flying in and out of 24606

The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 145 miles away.

Nearest airport
BKW
Raleigh County Memorial, about 38 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
3 nonstop destinations
Average drive
54 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 24606

Schools across 24606 average a B, better than 75% 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 24606 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


24606 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 24606 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 24606

Is 24606 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 24606 ranks 32,181st of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and heat safety, and lowest on noise and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 24606 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $34,100. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $29,576 median income, cost of living beats 3% of zip codes.

Is 24606 safe?

24606 is safer than 18% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $480 per resident a year.


Compare 24606 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 24606. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 24606 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.

24606 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 24606: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 24606: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 24606: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 24606: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

24606 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.