Best PlacesDenniston, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Denniston, 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.
Denniston ranks 33,265th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Denniston
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.
Denniston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Denniston ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap childcare$537 a month, better than 88% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
Where Denniston ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$39,306 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Denniston
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Denniston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $39,306, 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 Denniston's effective rate of 0.46%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Denniston
Denniston runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Denniston.
Who works in Denniston, and how
Work in Denniston centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Denniston
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Denniston.
What the weather is like in Denniston, month by month
Denniston sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Denniston
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 50 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.7 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Denniston
Schools across Denniston average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cluster Springs ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Halifax County MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Halifax County HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Denniston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Denniston 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 Denniston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Denniston
Is Denniston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Denniston ranks 33,265th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low crime, and civic engagement, and lowest on internet speeds 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 Denniston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $124,500. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $39,306 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Denniston safe?
Yes, Denniston is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $184 per resident a year.
Compare Denniston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Denniston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Denniston 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.
Denniston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Denniston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Denniston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Denniston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Denniston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Denniston 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.