Best PlacesAroda, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Aroda, 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.
Aroda ranks 6,218th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Aroda
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.
Aroda's strengths and weaknesses
Where Aroda ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
Where Aroda ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,031 a month, better than only 23% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of towns
- Short commute31.9 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Aroda
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Aroda home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $84,908; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Aroda's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Aroda
Aroda runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Aroda.
Who works in Aroda, and how
Work in Aroda centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Aroda
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Aroda.
What the weather is like in Aroda, month by month
Aroda sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Aroda
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Aroda
Schools across Aroda average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waverly Yowell ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- William H. Wetsel MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Madison County HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Aroda school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Aroda 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 Aroda against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Aroda
Is Aroda a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Aroda ranks 6,218th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, low property taxes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on state finances and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Aroda expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $374,170. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $84,908 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Aroda safe?
Yes, Aroda is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $143 per resident a year.
Compare Aroda with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Aroda. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Aroda 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.
Aroda detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Aroda: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Aroda: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Aroda: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Aroda: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Aroda 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.