Best PlacesBrookneal, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brookneal, 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.
Brookneal ranks 35,748th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Brookneal
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.
Brookneal's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brookneal ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of towns
- Cheap childcare$580 a month, better than 81% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of towns
Where Brookneal ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 16% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Household income$53,223 median, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brookneal
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brookneal home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,223, 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 Brookneal's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Brookneal
Brookneal 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 Brookneal.
Who works in Brookneal, and how
Work in Brookneal centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Brookneal
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Brookneal.
What the weather is like in Brookneal, month by month
Brookneal sees roughly 65 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 Brookneal
The nearest airport, Lynchburg Regional/Preston Glenn Field, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brookneal
Schools across Brookneal average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Phenix ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Brookneal ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Sydnor Jennings ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rustburg MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Central MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Rustburg HighA · 70% proficient
- Randolph-henry HighA− · 62% proficient
- William Campbell HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brookneal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brookneal 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 Brookneal against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brookneal
Is Brookneal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brookneal ranks 35,748th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low property taxes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on education levels and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brookneal expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $142,195. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $53,223 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Brookneal safe?
Brookneal is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $449 per resident a year.
Compare Brookneal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brookneal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brookneal 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.
Brookneal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brookneal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brookneal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brookneal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brookneal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brookneal 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.