Best PlacesBig Island, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Island, 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.
Big Island ranks 9,602nd 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 Big Island
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.
Big Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Island ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of towns
Where Big Island ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Island
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,570, 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 Big Island's effective rate of 0.38%, 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 Big Island
Big Island 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 Big Island.
Who works in Big Island, and how
Work in Big Island centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Big Island
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Island.
What the weather is like in Big Island, month by month
Big Island sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 37° | 26° |
| April | 74° | 58° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 66° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Big Island
The nearest airport, Lynchburg Regional/Preston Glenn Field, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 114 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Island
Schools across Big Island average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Big Island ElementaryA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Liberty HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Island 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 Big Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Island
Is Big Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Island ranks 9,602nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, cheap car insurance, and low property taxes, and lowest on state finances and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,316. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $78,570 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Big Island safe?
Yes, Big Island is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare Big Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Island 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.
Big Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Island 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.