Best PlacesChamberlayne, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chamberlayne, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chamberlayne ranks 5,134th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chamberlayne
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.
Chamberlayne's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chamberlayne ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
Where Chamberlayne ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,030 a month, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chamberlayne
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chamberlayne home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $103,032, 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 Chamberlayne'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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Chamberlayne
Chamberlayne 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 Chamberlayne.
Who works in Chamberlayne, and how
Work in Chamberlayne centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Chamberlayne
Chamberlayne has more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Chamberlayne and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chamberlayne, month by month
Chamberlayne sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 51, 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 | 51° | 39° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 75° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Chamberlayne
Richmond International sits about 11 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 Chamberlayne
Schools across Chamberlayne average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chamberlayne ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Washington-henry ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chickahominy MiddleA+ · 85% proficient
- L. Douglas Wilder MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Brookland MiddleC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Atlee HighA+ · 88% proficient
- Henrico HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Hermitage HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chamberlayne school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chamberlayne 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 Chamberlayne against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chamberlayne
Is Chamberlayne a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chamberlayne ranks 5,134th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, civic engagement, and few empty homes, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chamberlayne expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $361,567. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $103,032 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Chamberlayne safe?
Chamberlayne is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $384 per resident a year.
Compare Chamberlayne with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chamberlayne. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chamberlayne 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.
Chamberlayne detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chamberlayne: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chamberlayne: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chamberlayne: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chamberlayne: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chamberlayne 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.