Best PlacesBoones Mill, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Boones Mill, 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.
Boones Mill ranks 19,973rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Boones Mill
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.
Boones Mill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Boones Mill ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 78% of towns
Where Boones Mill ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 23% of towns
- Household income$59,020 median, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Boones Mill
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boones Mill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $59,020; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Boones Mill's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Boones Mill
Boones Mill 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 Boones Mill.
Who works in Boones Mill, and how
Work in Boones Mill centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Boones Mill
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Boones Mill.
What the weather is like in Boones Mill, month by month
Boones Mill sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Boones Mill
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 107 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boones Mill
Schools across Boones Mill average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Penn Forest ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Callaway ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Clearbrook ElementaryA · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cave Spring MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Benjamin Franklin MiddleA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Cave Spring HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Franklin County HighA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boones Mill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boones Mill 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 Boones Mill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Boones Mill
Is Boones Mill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boones Mill ranks 19,973rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, low disaster risk, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Boones Mill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $259,594. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $59,020 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Boones Mill safe?
Yes, Boones Mill is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $288 per resident a year.
Compare Boones Mill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boones Mill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boones Mill 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.
Boones Mill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boones Mill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boones Mill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boones Mill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boones Mill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boones Mill 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.