Best PlacesBracey, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bracey, 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.
Bracey ranks 30,830th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Empty homes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Bracey
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.
Bracey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bracey ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 81% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
Where Bracey ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bracey
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bracey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $65,739; 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 Bracey'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 Bracey
Bracey 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 Bracey.
Who works in Bracey, and how
Work in Bracey centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bracey
Bracey has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Bracey and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bracey, month by month
Bracey sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, 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 | 52° | 39° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 45° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 75° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Bracey
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 62 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.7 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Bracey
Schools across Bracey average a C−, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Hill ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Lacrosse ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Meherrin Powellton ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- James S. Russell MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Warren County MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Brunswick HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Warren County HighD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bracey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bracey 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 Bracey against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bracey
Is Bracey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bracey ranks 30,830th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, cheap car insurance, and health care access, and lowest on empty homes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bracey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $272,413. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $65,739 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Bracey safe?
Bracey is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $328 per resident a year.
Compare Bracey with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bracey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bracey 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.
Bracey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bracey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bracey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bracey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bracey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bracey 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.