Best PlacesComet, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Comet, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Comet ranks 26,781st 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 Comet
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.
Comet's strengths and weaknesses
Where Comet ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 82% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Comet ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Short commute35.5 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Comet
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Comet home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,100, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Comet'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, 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 Comet
Comet's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Comet.
Who works in Comet, and how
Work in Comet centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Comet
The coast is about 40 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Comet, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Comet, month by month
Comet sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 41° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Comet
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 49 miles away.
The best schools in and around Comet
Schools across Comet average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hardy ElementaryA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westside ElementaryA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Smithfield HighA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Comet school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Comet 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 Comet against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Comet
Is Comet a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Comet ranks 26,781st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Comet expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $299,943. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $68,100 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Comet safe?
Comet is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $387 per resident a year.
Compare Comet with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Comet. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Comet 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.
Comet detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Comet: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Comet: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Comet: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Comet: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Comet 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.