Best PlacesCharlottesville, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Charlottesville metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Wcedmisten, CC BY 4.0, via wiki
Charlottesville ranks 41st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $99,166, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are cell coverage, internet speeds, and state finances.
The best neighborhoods in the Charlottesville metro
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.
The best areas in Charlottesville
The towns and districts of the Charlottesville metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Crozet
More households have young kids, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Lake Monticello, Troy & Keswick
It is quieter and incomes run higher.
Ruckersville, Hollymead & Barboursville
Crime runs lower and prices have run up less.
Earlysville
Homes cost more.
Afton
Tree cover is thicker, though biking is worse.
Palmyra & Scottsville
Commutes are longer and streets are more car-dependent.
Downtown Charlottesville
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Charlottesville run from about the 17th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Charlottesville's strengths and weaknesses
Charlottesville ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. An educated workforce is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Tree cover and health care access follow.
The one real hole is cell coverage, near the bottom of the country. Internet speeds and state finances also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Charlottesville ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of metro areas
- School gradeA−, better than 94% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of metro areas
Where Charlottesville ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 27% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,050 a month, better than only 32% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Charlottesville
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Charlottesville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,166, 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's effective rate of 0.72%, 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
Charlottesville'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 Charlottesville.
Who works in Charlottesville, and how
Work in Charlottesville centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Charlottesville
Charlottesville has less parkland per resident than most metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 70% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Charlottesville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Charlottesville growing, and who is moving in?
Charlottesville has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Washington, DC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Charlottesville go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Charlottesville, month by month
Charlottesville sees roughly 101 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
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 7 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
Schools across Charlottesville average an A−, better than 94% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Virginia L. Murray ElementaryA+ · 87% proficient
- Hollymead ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
- Meriwether Lewis ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Joseph T. Henley MiddleA+ · 84% proficient
- Lakeside MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Journey MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Western Albemarle HighA+ · 84% proficient
- Albemarle HighA · 74% proficient
- Community Lab SchoolA · 72% 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 386 metro areas.
Who Charlottesville suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of metro areas and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 60% of metro areas and health care access beats 96%.
Common questions about living in Charlottesville
Is Charlottesville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Charlottesville ranks 41st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on an educated workforce, tree cover, and health care access, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. 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 $463,591. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $99,166 median income, cost of living beats 92% of metro areas.
Is Charlottesville safe?
Charlottesville is safer than 27% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $421 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Charlottesville?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 30. That works out to about 101 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Charlottesville?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Crozet, Lake Monticello, Troy & Keswick, and Ruckersville, Hollymead & Barboursville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Charlottesville good for families?
Schools beat 94% of metro areas, crime safety beats 27%, and childcare runs $1,050 a month.
Is Charlottesville good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 13% of metro areas. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Charlottesville with other metro areas
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.
- 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.