Best PlacesAccomack County, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Accomack County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Accomack County ranks 2,326th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Accomack County
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.
The best areas in Accomack County
The parts of Accomack County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Melfa & Painter
More adults hold degrees and more households have young kids.
Chincoteague
More residents vote, though heat risk is higher.
Parksley
Prices have run up less, though health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Accomack County run from about the 4th to the 53rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Accomack County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Accomack County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of counties
- School gradeB, better than 81% of counties
- TransitBetter than 80% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 78% of counties
Where Accomack County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Accomack County
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Accomack County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,418, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Accomack County's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Accomack County
Accomack County 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 Accomack County.
Who works in Accomack County, and how
Work in Accomack County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Accomack County
Accomack County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Accomack County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Accomack County growing, and who is moving in?
Accomack County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Washington, DC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Accomack County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Accomack County, month by month
Accomack County sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 67° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Accomack County
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Accomack County
Schools across Accomack County average a B, better than 81% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Chincoteague ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Pungoteague ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Occohannock ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nandua MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Arcadia MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Snow Hill MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Chincoteague HighA · 75% proficient
- Nandua HighA · 73% proficient
- Arcadia HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Accomack County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Accomack County 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 Accomack County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Accomack County suits
Common questions about living in Accomack County
Is Accomack County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Accomack County ranks 2,326th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, big-city access, and good schools, and lowest on disaster risk and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Accomack County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,331. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $62,418 median income, cost of living beats 28% of counties.
Is Accomack County safe?
Accomack County is safer than 19% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $487 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Accomack County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 30. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 20% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Accomack County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Melfa & Painter, Chincoteague, and Parksley. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Accomack County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Accomack County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Accomack County 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.
Accomack County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Accomack County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Accomack County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Accomack County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Accomack County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Accomack County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.