Best PlacesAtkins, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Atkins, 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.
Atkins ranks 30,781st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Atkins
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.
Atkins' strengths and weaknesses
Where Atkins ranks high
- Short commute18.8 minutes each way, better than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap childcare$558 a month, better than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
Where Atkins ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 21% of towns
- Household income$56,607 median, better than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Atkins
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Atkins home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,607, 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 Atkins' effective rate of 0.44%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Atkins
Atkins 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 Atkins.
Who works in Atkins, and how
Work in Atkins centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Atkins
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Atkins.
What the weather is like in Atkins, month by month
Atkins sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 40° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 69° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Atkins
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 61 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Atkins
Schools across Atkins average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rich Valley ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Glade Creek ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Atkins ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Independence MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Marion MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Northwood MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Grayson County HighA · 73% proficient
- Northwood HighA− · 67% proficient
- Marion Senior HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Atkins school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Atkins 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 Atkins against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Atkins
Is Atkins a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Atkins ranks 30,781st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, cheap car insurance, and low disaster risk, and lowest on noise and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Atkins expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $142,682. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $56,607 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Atkins safe?
Atkins is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
Compare Atkins with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Atkins. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Atkins 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.
Atkins detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Atkins: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Atkins: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Atkins: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Atkins: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Atkins 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.