Best PlacesCastleton, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Castleton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Castleton ranks 22,316th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Cell coverage pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on health care access.
The best neighborhoods in Castleton
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.
Castleton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Castleton ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 87% of towns
Where Castleton ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Short commute36.9 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Castleton
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Castleton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,132, 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 Castleton's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 Castleton
Castleton 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 Castleton.
Who works in Castleton, and how
Work in Castleton centers on construction and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Castleton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Castleton.
What the weather is like in Castleton, month by month
Castleton sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 36° | 24° |
| April | 73° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 92° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Castleton
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around Castleton
Schools across Castleton average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Emerald Hill ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Rappahannock County ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
- A.g. Richardson ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Culpeper MiddleA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Culpeper County HighA− · 66% proficient
- Rappahannock County HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Castleton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Castleton 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 Castleton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Castleton
Is Castleton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Castleton ranks 22,316th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and big-city access, and lowest on cell coverage and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Castleton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $420,830. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $74,132 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Castleton safe?
Yes, Castleton is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Castleton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Castleton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Castleton 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.
Castleton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Castleton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Castleton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Castleton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Castleton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Castleton 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.