Best PlacesAppalachia, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Appalachia, 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.
Appalachia ranks 36,121st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Appalachia
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.
Appalachia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Appalachia ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Cheap childcare$576 a month, better than 81% of towns
Where Appalachia ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- Household income$37,768 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Appalachia
A household needs to earn about $14,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Appalachia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $37,768, 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 Appalachia's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Appalachia
Appalachia 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 Appalachia.
Who works in Appalachia, and how
Work in Appalachia centers on health care & social and other services. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Appalachia
Appalachia has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Appalachia and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Appalachia, month by month
Appalachia sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 45° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Appalachia
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 156 miles away.
The best schools in and around Appalachia
Schools across Appalachia average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wise PrimaryA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Union MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Union HighA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Appalachia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Appalachia 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 Appalachia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Appalachia
Is Appalachia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Appalachia ranks 36,121st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, low disaster risk, and walkability, and lowest on health outcomes and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Appalachia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $52,910. The overall cost of living runs about 29% below the national average. Set against a $37,768 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Appalachia safe?
Appalachia is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $345 per resident a year.
Compare Appalachia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Appalachia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Appalachia 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.
Appalachia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Appalachia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Appalachia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Appalachia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Appalachia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Appalachia 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.