Best PlacesCharlottesville, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Charlottesville, 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.
Charlottesville ranks 14,318th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Charlottesville
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Charlottesville ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
Where Charlottesville ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 12% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Charlottesville
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Charlottesville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,662, 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 Charlottesville's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Charlottesville
Charlottesville 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 Charlottesville.
Who works in Charlottesville, and how
Work in Charlottesville centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Charlottesville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Charlottesville.
What the weather is like in Charlottesville, month by month
Charlottesville sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Charlottesville
Indianapolis International sits about 37 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.2 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Charlottesville
Schools across Charlottesville average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eastern Hancock Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Knightstown Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Eastern Hancock Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Knightstown Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Eastern Hancock High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Knightstown High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Charlottesville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Charlottesville 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Charlottesville
Is Charlottesville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Charlottesville ranks 14,318th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, few empty homes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Charlottesville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $184,095. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $90,662 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Charlottesville safe?
Charlottesville is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Charlottesville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Charlottesville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Charlottesville 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Charlottesville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Charlottesville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Charlottesville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Charlottesville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Charlottesville 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.