Best PlacesCenter Cross, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Center Cross, 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.
Center Cross ranks 37,400th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Center Cross
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.
Center Cross' strengths and weaknesses
Where Center Cross ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 72% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 69% of towns
Where Center Cross ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute35.8 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Center Cross
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Center Cross home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,922, 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 Center Cross' effective rate of 0.59%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Center Cross
Center Cross runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Center Cross.
Who works in Center Cross, and how
Work in Center Cross centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Center Cross
The coast is about 4 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Center Cross, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Center Cross, month by month
Center Cross sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, 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 | 48° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Center Cross
Richmond International sits about 36 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Center Cross
Schools across Center Cross average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tappahannock ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- King & Queen ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Lawson-marriott ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- James H. Cary IntermediateC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Central HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Essex HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Center Cross school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Center Cross 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 Center Cross against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Center Cross
Is Center Cross a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Center Cross ranks 37,400th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, cheap car insurance, and tree cover, and lowest on disaster risk and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Center Cross expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,145. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $77,922 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Center Cross safe?
Center Cross is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $598 per resident a year.
Compare Center Cross with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Center Cross. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Center Cross 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.
Center Cross detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Center Cross: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Center Cross: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Center Cross: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Center Cross: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Center Cross 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.