Best PlacesCharlottesville City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Charlottesville City, 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.
Charlottesville City ranks 273rd of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Charlottesville City
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.
Charlottesville City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Charlottesville City ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 98% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of counties
Where Charlottesville City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,177 a month, better than only 9% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Charlottesville City
A household needs to earn about $136,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Charlottesville City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,054, 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 Charlottesville City's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Charlottesville City
Charlottesville City runs younger 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 Charlottesville City.
Who works in Charlottesville City, and how
Work in Charlottesville City centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 25%
Life in Charlottesville City
Charlottesville City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of counties and more parkland per resident than 87% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Charlottesville City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Charlottesville City growing, and who is moving in?
Charlottesville City has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Charlottesville, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Charlottesville City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Charlottesville City, month by month
Charlottesville City sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 30° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 85° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 69° | 60° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Charlottesville City
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Charlottesville City
Schools across Charlottesville City average a B+, better than 84% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Venable ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Greenbrier ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Burnley-moran ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jackson P. Burley MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Buford MiddleB+ · 47% proficient
- Walker Upper ElementaryB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Community Lab SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Charlottesville HighA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Charlottesville City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Charlottesville City 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 Charlottesville City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Charlottesville City suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of counties and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Charlottesville City
Is Charlottesville City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Charlottesville City ranks 273rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, walkability, and heat safety, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Charlottesville City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $516,868. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $79,054 median income, cost of living beats 70% of counties.
Is Charlottesville City safe?
Charlottesville City is safer than 8% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $613 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Charlottesville City?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 30. That works out to about 115 pleasant days a year, more than 71% of counties.
Is Charlottesville City good for families?
Schools beat 84% of counties, crime safety beats 8%, and childcare runs $1,177 a month.
Compare Charlottesville City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Charlottesville City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Charlottesville City 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.
Charlottesville City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Charlottesville City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Charlottesville City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Charlottesville City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Charlottesville City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Charlottesville City 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.