Best PlacesColley, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Colley, 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.
Colley ranks 43,907th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Colley
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.
Colley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Colley ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$512 a month, better than 91% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 83% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Colley ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$33,125 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Colley
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Colley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $33,125, 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 Colley's effective rate of 0.46%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Colley
Colley 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 Colley.
Who works in Colley, and how
Work in Colley centers on mining & oil & gas and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Colley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Colley.
What the weather is like in Colley, month by month
Colley sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 45° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Colley
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Colley
Schools across Colley average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sandlick ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ridgeview MiddleA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Ridgeview HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Colley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Colley 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 Colley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Colley
Is Colley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Colley ranks 43,907th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, heat safety, and affordable childcare, and lowest on cell coverage and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Colley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $105,568. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $33,125 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Colley safe?
Colley is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $405 per resident a year.
Compare Colley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Colley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Colley 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.
Colley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Colley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Colley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Colley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Colley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Colley 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.