Best PlacesChula, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chula, 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.
Chula ranks 10,382nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on good schools.
The best neighborhoods in Chula
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.
Chula's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chula ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 85% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
- Household income$95,081 median, better than 81% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 79% of towns
Where Chula ranks low
- Short commute37.6 minutes each way, better than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 18% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chula
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chula home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,081, 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 Chula's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Chula
Chula runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Chula.
Who works in Chula, and how
Work in Chula centers on other services and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Chula
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Chula.
What the weather is like in Chula, month by month
Chula sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 38° | 27° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Chula
Richmond International sits about 32 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Chula
Schools across Chula average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Grange Hall ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- Amelia County ElementaryB+ · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tomahawk Creek MiddleA · 66% proficient
- Amelia County MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Cosby HighA+ · 82% proficient
- Amelia County HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chula school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chula 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 Chula against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chula
Is Chula a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chula ranks 10,382nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, what local pay buys, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on long commutes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chula expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $356,612. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $95,081 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Chula safe?
Yes, Chula is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Chula with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chula. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chula 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.
Chula detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chula: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chula: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chula: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chula: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chula 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.