Best PlacesBath County, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bath County, 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.
Bath County ranks 1,777th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bath 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.
Bath County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bath County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 99% of counties
- QuietBetter than 98% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of counties
Where Bath County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 1% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bath County
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bath County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,110, 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 Bath County's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Bath County
Bath 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 Bath County.
Who works in Bath County, and how
Work in Bath County centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Bath County
Bath County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Bath County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bath County growing, and who is moving in?
Bath County has lost about 10% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Spartanburg, SC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bath County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bath County, month by month
Bath County sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 79° | 70° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Bath County
The nearest airport, Greenbrier Valley, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bath County
Schools across Bath County average a B+, better than 83% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Millboro ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Mountain View ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Valley ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clifton MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Alleghany HighA− · 67% proficient
- Bath County HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bath County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bath 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 Bath County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Bath County
Is Bath County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bath County ranks 1,777th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, quiet, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on cell coverage and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bath County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,554. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $61,110 median income, cost of living beats 28% of counties.
Is Bath County safe?
Bath County is safer than 25% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $423 per resident a year.
Compare Bath County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bath County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bath 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.
Bath County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bath County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bath County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bath County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bath County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bath 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.