Best PlacesColonial Heights City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Colonial Heights City, 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.
Colonial Heights City ranks 910th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Colonial Heights City
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.
Colonial Heights City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Colonial Heights City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 91% of counties
- TransitBetter than 88% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of counties
Where Colonial Heights City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,125 a month, better than only 10% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Colonial Heights City
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Colonial Heights City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,089, 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 Colonial Heights City's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Colonial Heights City
Colonial Heights City'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 Colonial Heights City.
Who works in Colonial Heights City, and how
Work in Colonial Heights City centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Colonial Heights City
Colonial Heights City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 99% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Colonial Heights City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Colonial Heights City growing, and who is moving in?
Colonial Heights City has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Richmond, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Colonial Heights City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Colonial Heights City, month by month
Colonial Heights City sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, 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 | 52° | 38° | 27° |
| April | 74° | 58° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Colonial Heights City
Richmond International sits about 17 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 Colonial Heights City
Schools across Colonial Heights City average an A−, better than 91% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Tussing ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- North ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Lakeview ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Colonial Heights MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Colonial Heights HighA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Colonial Heights City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Colonial Heights City 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 Colonial Heights City against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Colonial Heights City
Is Colonial Heights City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Colonial Heights City ranks 910th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, good schools, and transit, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Colonial Heights City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,639. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $79,089 median income, cost of living beats 82% of counties.
Is Colonial Heights City safe?
Colonial Heights City is safer than 16% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $563 per resident a year.
Compare Colonial Heights City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Colonial Heights City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Colonial Heights City 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.
Colonial Heights City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Colonial Heights City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Colonial Heights City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Colonial Heights City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Colonial Heights City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Colonial Heights City 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.