Best PlacesChesapeake, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chesapeake, 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.
Chesapeake ranks 45,817th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chesapeake
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.
Chesapeake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chesapeake ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute21.1 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 72% of towns
- BikingBetter than 68% of towns
Where Chesapeake ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chesapeake
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chesapeake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,927, 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 Chesapeake's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Chesapeake
Chesapeake 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 Chesapeake.
Who works in Chesapeake, and how
Work in Chesapeake centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Chesapeake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Chesapeake.
What the weather is like in Chesapeake, month by month
Chesapeake sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Chesapeake
The nearest airport, West Virginia International Yeager, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 143 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chesapeake
Schools across Chesapeake average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Belle Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Chesapeake Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Bank Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Du Pont Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Riverside High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chesapeake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chesapeake 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 Chesapeake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chesapeake
Is Chesapeake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chesapeake ranks 45,817th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chesapeake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $84,500. The overall cost of living runs about 28% below the national average. Set against a $60,927 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Chesapeake safe?
Chesapeake is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $524 per resident a year.
Compare Chesapeake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chesapeake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chesapeake 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.
Chesapeake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chesapeake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chesapeake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chesapeake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chesapeake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chesapeake 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.