Best PlacesCherrydale, Arlington, VA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Cherrydale, Arlington, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Cherrydale, Arlington ranks 76th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#76
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Cherrydale, Arlington

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Cherrydale, Arlington area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
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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.

Cherrydale, Arlington's strengths and weaknesses

#76Best US area overall
Top 3%Good schools
Top 3%High incomes
Top 5%An educated workforce
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Cherrydale, Arlington with other neighborhoods.

Where Cherrydale, Arlington ranks high

  • School gradeA+, better than 98% of neighborhoods
  • Household income$205,363 median, better than 98% of neighborhoods
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
  • Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of neighborhoods

Where Cherrydale, Arlington ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$2,495 a month, better than only 1% of neighborhoods
  • QuietBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 17% of neighborhoods
  • Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of neighborhoods
  • Internet speedBetter than only 27% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Cherrydale, Arlington

A household needs to earn about $334,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cherrydale, Arlington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $205,363, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$334,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$7,783
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $1,270,309 home
Median rent
$1,972
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$6,477
Property tax$883
Homeowners insurance$423

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 Cherrydale, Arlington'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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Cherrydale, Arlington

Cherrydale, Arlington's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
39
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
17%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1826%
18 to 3416%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6421%
65 and older17%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cherrydale, Arlington.


Who works in Cherrydale, Arlington, and how

Work in Cherrydale, Arlington centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
38%
above the national average
Unemployment
2.1%
below the national average
Job growth
−1.0%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical29%
Public administration16%
Education11%
Other services8%
Health care & social5%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 48%
  • Work from home 38%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 14%

Life in Cherrydale, Arlington

Cherrydale, Arlington has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 24 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Cherrydale, Arlington and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
20
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 50.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 65% of neighborhoods
To the coast
24 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Cherrydale, Arlington, month by month

Cherrydale, Arlington sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January49°38°30°
April72°59°48°
July92°81°73°
October74°63°53°

Flying in and out of Cherrydale, Arlington

Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 5 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
DCA
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl, about 5 miles
Airport size
Large hub
28th-busiest in the US, 128 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Cherrydale, Arlington

Schools across Cherrydale, Arlington average an A+, better than 98% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cherrydale, Arlington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Cherrydale, Arlington 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 Cherrydale, Arlington against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in Cherrydale, Arlington

Is Cherrydale, Arlington a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cherrydale, Arlington ranks 76th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on good schools, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Cherrydale, Arlington expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $1,270,309. The overall cost of living runs about 47% above the national average. Set against a $205,363 median income, cost of living beats 95% of neighborhoods.

Is Cherrydale, Arlington safe?

Yes, Cherrydale, Arlington is safer than 69% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.


Compare Cherrydale, Arlington with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cherrydale, Arlington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cherrydale, Arlington 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.

Cherrydale, Arlington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Cherrydale, Arlington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Cherrydale, Arlington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Cherrydale, Arlington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Cherrydale, Arlington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Cherrydale, Arlington detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.