Best PlacesDuane, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Duane, 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.
Duane ranks 13,508th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Cell coverage pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Duane
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.
Duane's strengths and weaknesses
Where Duane ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 85% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 85% of towns
- Household income$99,339 median, better than 84% of towns
Where Duane ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute45.8 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Duane
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Duane home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $99,339, 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 Duane's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Duane
Duane runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Duane.
Who works in Duane, and how
Work in Duane centers on manufacturing and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Duane
The coast is about 38 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Duane, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Duane, month by month
Duane sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 39° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 75° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Duane
Richmond International sits about 26 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 Duane
Schools across Duane average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bowling Green ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hamilton Holmes MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Caroline MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- King William HighA− · 62% proficient
- Caroline HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Duane school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Duane 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 Duane against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Duane
Is Duane a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Duane ranks 13,508th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, tree cover, and what local pay buys, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Duane expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $373,713. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $99,339 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Duane safe?
Yes, Duane is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $255 per resident a year.
Compare Duane with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Duane. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Duane 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.
Duane detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Duane: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Duane: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Duane: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Duane: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Duane 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.