Best PlacesCarfax, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carfax, 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.
Carfax ranks 40,500th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carfax
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.
Carfax's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carfax ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 89% of towns
- Cheap childcare$550 a month, better than 87% of towns
Where Carfax ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,042 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carfax
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carfax home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $36,042, 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 Carfax's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carfax
Carfax 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 Carfax.
Who works in Carfax, and how
Work in Carfax centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Carfax
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carfax.
What the weather is like in Carfax, month by month
Carfax sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 45° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Carfax
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 141 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carfax
Schools across Carfax average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wise PrimaryA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Union MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Lebanon MiddleA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Union HighA− · 67% proficient
- Castlewood HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carfax school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carfax 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 Carfax against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carfax
Is Carfax a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carfax ranks 40,500th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, tree cover, and low disaster risk, and lowest on noise and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carfax expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $88,786. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $36,042 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Carfax safe?
Carfax is safer than 41% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $331 per resident a year.
Compare Carfax with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carfax. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carfax 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.
Carfax detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carfax: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carfax: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carfax: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carfax: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carfax 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.