Best PlacesBee, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bee, 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.
Bee ranks 36,755th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bee
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.
Bee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bee ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap childcare$512 a month, better than 91% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Bee ranks low
- Household income$43,438 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bee
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $43,438, 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 Bee's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Bee
Bee runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Bee.
Who works in Bee, and how
Work in Bee centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bee
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bee.
What the weather is like in Bee, month by month
Bee sees roughly 113 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 Bee
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 147 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bee
Schools across Bee average an A−, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverview Elementary/middleB · 50% proficient
- Council Elementary/middleB · 47% proficient
- Sandlick ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ridgeview MiddleA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Council HighA · 70% proficient
- Grundy HighA− · 63% proficient
- Ridgeview HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bee 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 Bee against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bee
Is Bee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bee ranks 36,755th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on low incomes and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $99,593. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $43,438 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Bee safe?
Yes, Bee is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
Compare Bee with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bee 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.
Bee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bee 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.