Best PlacesCardinal, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cardinal, 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.
Cardinal ranks 27,947th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cardinal
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.
Cardinal's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cardinal ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of towns
Where Cardinal ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute38.3 minutes each way, better than only 7% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cardinal
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cardinal home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $76,050; 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 Cardinal's effective rate of 0.50%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cardinal
Cardinal 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 Cardinal.
Who works in Cardinal, and how
Work in Cardinal centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Cardinal
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Cardinal, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cardinal, month by month
Cardinal sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 40° | 30° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Cardinal
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cardinal
Schools across Cardinal average an A−, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mathews ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thomas Hunter MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Mathews HighA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cardinal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cardinal 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 Cardinal against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cardinal
Is Cardinal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cardinal ranks 27,947th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on disaster risk and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cardinal expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $334,900. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $76,050 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Cardinal safe?
Yes, Cardinal is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
Compare Cardinal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cardinal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cardinal 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.
Cardinal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cardinal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cardinal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cardinal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cardinal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cardinal 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.