Best PlacesBarcroft, Arlington, VA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Barcroft, Arlington, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Barcroft, Arlington ranks 114th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#114
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Barcroft, Arlington

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Barcroft, Arlington area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
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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.

Barcroft, Arlington's strengths and weaknesses

#114Best US area overall
Top 5%Few empty homes
Top 5%A strong job market
Top 10%Cell coverage
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Barcroft, Arlington with other neighborhoods.

Where Barcroft, Arlington ranks high

  • Low vacancyBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
  • Local economyBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
  • Cell coverageBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
  • School gradeA−, better than 91% of neighborhoods
  • Crime safetyBetter than 91% of neighborhoods

Where Barcroft, Arlington ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$2,495 a month, better than only 1% of neighborhoods
  • Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of neighborhoods
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 17% of neighborhoods
  • Internet speedBetter than only 32% of neighborhoods
  • Short commute26.6 minutes each way, better than only 35% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Barcroft, Arlington

A household needs to earn about $246,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barcroft, Arlington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $136,187, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$246,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$5,734
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $926,654 home
Median rent
$2,107
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$4,725
Property tax$700
Homeowners insurance$309

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 Barcroft, Arlington'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 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Barcroft, Arlington

Barcroft, Arlington runs younger than the country.

Median age
33
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
11%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1828%
18 to 3428%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6414%
65 and older12%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Barcroft, Arlington.


Who works in Barcroft, Arlington, and how

Work in Barcroft, Arlington centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
28%
above the national average
Unemployment
1.3%
below the national average
Job growth
+18.6%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical25%
Health care & social11%
Public administration9%
Other services9%
Retail trade7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 60%
  • Work from home 28%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 12%

Life in Barcroft, Arlington

The coast is about 21 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Barcroft, Arlington, which the map shows.

To the coast
21 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Barcroft, Arlington, month by month

Barcroft, Arlington sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January49°38°30°
April72°59°48°
July92°81°73°
October74°63°53°

Flying in and out of Barcroft, Arlington

Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 4 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
DCA
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl, about 4 miles
Airport size
Large hub
28th-busiest in the US, 128 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Barcroft, Arlington

Schools across Barcroft, Arlington average an A−, better than 91% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barcroft, Arlington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Barcroft, Arlington 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 Barcroft, Arlington against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in Barcroft, Arlington

Is Barcroft, Arlington a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barcroft, Arlington ranks 114th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on few empty homes, a strong job market, and cell coverage, and lowest on childcare costs and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Barcroft, Arlington expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $926,654. The overall cost of living runs about 33% above the national average. Set against a $136,187 median income, cost of living beats 76% of neighborhoods.

Is Barcroft, Arlington safe?

Yes, Barcroft, Arlington is safer than 91% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $235 per resident a year.


Compare Barcroft, Arlington with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barcroft, Arlington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barcroft, Arlington 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.

Barcroft, Arlington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Barcroft, Arlington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Barcroft, Arlington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Barcroft, Arlington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Barcroft, Arlington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Barcroft, Arlington detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.