Best PlacesBrowntown, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Browntown, 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.
Browntown ranks 12,709th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Cell coverage pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on high incomes.
The best neighborhoods in Browntown
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.
Browntown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Browntown ranks high
- Household income$109,678 median, better than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
Where Browntown ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute39.9 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Browntown
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Browntown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $109,678, 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 Browntown's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Browntown
Browntown 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 Browntown.
Who works in Browntown, and how
Work in Browntown centers on construction and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Browntown
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Browntown.
What the weather is like in Browntown, month by month
Browntown sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Browntown
Washington Dulles International sits about 42 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 13.9 million passengers in 2025, with 200 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Browntown
Schools across Browntown average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rappahannock County ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
- Ressie Jeffries ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Skyline MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Rappahannock County HighA− · 62% proficient
- Skyline HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Browntown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Browntown 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 Browntown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Browntown
Is Browntown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Browntown ranks 12,709th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, cheap car insurance, and big-city access, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Browntown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $404,451. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $109,678 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Browntown safe?
Yes, Browntown is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $187 per resident a year.
Compare Browntown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Browntown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Browntown 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.
Browntown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Browntown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Browntown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Browntown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Browntown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Browntown 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.