Best PlacesCape Charles, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cape Charles, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cape Charles ranks 22,096th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cape Charles
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.
Cape Charles' strengths and weaknesses
Where Cape Charles ranks high
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Cape Charles ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cape Charles
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cape Charles home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,617, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Cape Charles' effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Cape Charles
Cape Charles 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 Cape Charles.
Who works in Cape Charles, and how
Work in Cape Charles centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Cape Charles
Cape Charles has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Cape Charles and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cape Charles, month by month
Cape Charles sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 40° | 33° |
| April | 67° | 58° | 50° |
| July | 87° | 79° | 73° |
| October | 71° | 63° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Cape Charles
The nearest airport, Norfolk International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cape Charles
Schools across Cape Charles average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- John B. Dey ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Kiptopeke ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Great Neck MiddleA+ · 85% proficient
- Francis W. Jones Magnet MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Northampton MiddleB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Frank W. Cox HighA+ · 83% proficient
- Kecoughtan HighA · 71% proficient
- Northampton HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cape Charles school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cape Charles 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 Cape Charles against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cape Charles
Is Cape Charles a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cape Charles ranks 22,096th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and walkability, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cape Charles expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $375,571. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $70,617 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Cape Charles safe?
Cape Charles is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $417 per resident a year.
Compare Cape Charles with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cape Charles. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cape Charles 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.
Cape Charles detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cape Charles: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cape Charles: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cape Charles: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cape Charles: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cape Charles 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.