Best PlacesCave Spring, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cave Spring, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cave Spring ranks 330th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cave Spring
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.
Cave Spring's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cave Spring ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of cities
Where Cave Spring ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 19% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Cave Spring
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cave Spring home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,613, 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 Cave Spring's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cave Spring
Cave Spring's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Cave Spring.
Who works in Cave Spring, and how
Work in Cave Spring centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cave Spring
Cave Spring has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Cave Spring and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cave Spring, month by month
Cave Spring sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Cave Spring
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cave Spring
Schools across Cave Spring average an A+, better than 98% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Penn Forest ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Grandin Court ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Cave Spring ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hidden Valley MiddleA+ · 80% proficient
- Cave Spring MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Woodrow Wilson MiddleA− · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Hidden Valley HighA+ · 87% proficient
- Cave Spring HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Patrick Henry HighA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cave Spring school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cave Spring 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 Cave Spring against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Cave Spring suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cave Spring
Is Cave Spring a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cave Spring ranks 330th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on good schools, low disaster risk, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on distance from a big city and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cave Spring expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $319,420. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $89,613 median income, cost of living beats 72% of cities.
Is Cave Spring safe?
Yes, Cave Spring is safer than 81% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $235 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cave Spring?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 28. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of cities.
Is Cave Spring good for families?
Schools beat 98% of cities, crime safety beats 81%, and childcare runs $974 a month.
Compare Cave Spring with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cave Spring. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cave Spring 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.
Cave Spring detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cave Spring: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cave Spring: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cave Spring: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cave Spring: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cave Spring 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.