Best PlacesCovington City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Covington 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.
Covington City ranks 2,819th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Covington 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.
Covington City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Covington City ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of counties
- Short commute17.1 minutes each way, better than 90% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of counties
Where Covington City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Household income$44,519 median, better than only 3% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 4% of counties
- School gradeD−, better than only 8% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Covington City
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Covington City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $44,519, 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 Covington City's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Covington City
Covington 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 Covington City.
Who works in Covington City, and how
Work in Covington City centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Covington City
Covington City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of counties and more parkland per resident than 97% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Covington City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Covington City growing, and who is moving in?
Covington City has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Alleghany County, VA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Covington City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Covington City, month by month
Covington City sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 79° | 70° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Covington City
The nearest airport, Greenbrier Valley, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 147 miles away.
Covington 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 Covington City against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Covington City
Is Covington City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Covington City ranks 2,819th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, cheap car insurance, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Covington City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $84,217. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $44,519 median income, cost of living beats 4% of counties.
Is Covington City safe?
Covington City is safer than 11% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $560 per resident a year.
Compare Covington City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Covington City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Covington 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.
Covington City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Covington City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Covington City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Covington City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Covington City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Covington 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.