Best PlacesBig Rock, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Rock, 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 Rock ranks 49,161st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Big Rock
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 Rock's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Rock ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap childcare$512 a month, better than 91% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 83% of towns
Where Big Rock ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute51.5 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Rock
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Rock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,241, 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 Rock's effective rate of 0.45%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Big Rock
Big Rock 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 Rock.
Who works in Big Rock, and how
Work in Big Rock centers on mining & oil & gas and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Big Rock
Big Rock has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Big Rock and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Big Rock, month by month
Big Rock sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Big Rock
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 64 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 164 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Rock
Schools across Big Rock average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverview Elementary/middleB · 50% proficient
- Hurley Elementary/middleB · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Grundy HighA− · 63% proficient
- Hurley HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Rock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Rock 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 Rock against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Rock
Is Big Rock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Rock ranks 49,161st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on health outcomes and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Rock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $111,578. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $47,241 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Big Rock safe?
Big Rock is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $530 per resident a year.
Compare Big Rock with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Rock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Rock 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 Rock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Rock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Rock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Rock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Rock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Rock 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.