Best PlacesCross Junction, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cross Junction, 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.
Cross Junction ranks 3,066th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cross Junction
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.
Cross Junction's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cross Junction ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
Where Cross Junction ranks low
- Short commute40.1 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 35% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 39% of towns
- TransitBetter than only 44% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cross Junction
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cross Junction home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,098, 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 Cross Junction's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cross Junction
Cross Junction runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cross Junction.
Who works in Cross Junction, and how
Work in Cross Junction centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cross Junction
Cross Junction has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Cross Junction and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cross Junction, month by month
Cross Junction sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Cross Junction
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cross Junction
Schools across Cross Junction average a B, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gainesboro ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frederick County MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- James Wood HighA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cross Junction school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cross Junction 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 Cross Junction against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cross Junction
Is Cross Junction a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cross Junction ranks 3,066th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, civic engagement, and health care access, 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 Cross Junction expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $346,214. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $98,098 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Cross Junction safe?
Yes, Cross Junction is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $98 per resident a year.
Compare Cross Junction with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cross Junction. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cross Junction 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.
Cross Junction detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cross Junction: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cross Junction: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cross Junction: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cross Junction: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cross Junction 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.