Best PlacesAlbemarle County, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Albemarle County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Albemarle County ranks 63rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $112,393, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, noise, and state finances.
The best neighborhoods in Albemarle 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 Albemarle County
The parts of Albemarle 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.
Crozet
More households have young kids, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Hollymead
Prices have run up less, though it is noisier.
Keswick
Tree cover is thicker and more residents vote.
Earlysville
Streets are more walkable, though incomes run lower.
Charlottesville
Biking is better, though health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Albemarle County run from about the 25th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Albemarle County's strengths and weaknesses
Albemarle County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. An educated workforce is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Health care access and what local pay buys follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, noise, and state finances hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Albemarle County ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of counties
- School gradeA, better than 97% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of counties
Where Albemarle County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,158 a month, better than only 10% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 12% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 32% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 33% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Albemarle County
A household needs to earn about $138,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Albemarle County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $112,393, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Albemarle County's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Albemarle County
Albemarle 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 Albemarle County.
Who works in Albemarle County, and how
Work in Albemarle County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Albemarle County
Albemarle County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Albemarle County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Albemarle County growing, and who is moving in?
Albemarle County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Charlottesville, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Albemarle County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Albemarle County, month by month
Albemarle County sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 30° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 85° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 69° | 60° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Albemarle County
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Albemarle County
Schools across Albemarle County average an A, better than 97% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Virginia L. Murray ElementaryA+ · 87% proficient
- Hollymead ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
- Meriwether Lewis ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Joseph T. Henley MiddleA+ · 84% proficient
- Lakeside MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Journey MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Western Albemarle HighA+ · 84% proficient
- Albemarle HighA · 74% proficient
- Charlottesville HighA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Albemarle County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Albemarle 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 Albemarle County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Albemarle County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of counties and 22% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 60% of counties and health care access beats 98%.
Common questions about living in Albemarle County
Is Albemarle County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Albemarle County ranks 63rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, health care access, and what local pay buys, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Albemarle County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $533,788. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $112,393 median income, cost of living beats 98% of counties.
Is Albemarle County safe?
Albemarle County is safer than 32% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $422 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Albemarle County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 30. That works out to about 100 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Albemarle County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Crozet, Hollymead, and Keswick. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Albemarle County good for families?
Schools beat 97% of counties, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $1,158 a month.
Is Albemarle County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 57% of counties. About 22% of workers already work from home.
Compare Albemarle County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Albemarle County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Albemarle 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.
Albemarle County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Albemarle County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Albemarle County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Albemarle County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Albemarle County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Albemarle 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.