Best PlacesDunn Loring, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dunn Loring, 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.
Dunn Loring ranks 44th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dunn Loring
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.
Dunn Loring's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dunn Loring ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$222,942 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
Where Dunn Loring ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,512 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dunn Loring
A household needs to earn about $253,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dunn Loring home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $222,942, 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 Dunn Loring's effective rate of 0.90%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dunn Loring
Dunn Loring'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 Dunn Loring.
Who works in Dunn Loring, and how
Work in Dunn Loring centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 35%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Dunn Loring
Dunn Loring has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns. The coast is about 22 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Dunn Loring and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dunn Loring, month by month
Dunn Loring sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 74° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Dunn Loring
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 11 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Dunn Loring
Schools across Dunn Loring average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stenwood ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Shrevewood ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Cunningham Park ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thoreau MiddleA+ · 82% proficient
- Kilmer MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- Madison HighA+ · 80% proficient
- Marshall HighA · 74% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dunn Loring school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dunn Loring 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 Dunn Loring against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dunn Loring
Is Dunn Loring a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dunn Loring ranks 44th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dunn Loring expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $954,364. The overall cost of living runs about 34% above the national average. Set against a $222,942 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Dunn Loring safe?
Yes, Dunn Loring is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $174 per resident a year.
Compare Dunn Loring with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dunn Loring. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dunn Loring 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.
Dunn Loring detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dunn Loring: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dunn Loring: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dunn Loring: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dunn Loring: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dunn Loring 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.