Best PlacesEmporia City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Emporia 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.
Emporia City ranks 2,815th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Emporia 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.
Emporia City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Emporia City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of counties
- BikingBetter than 85% of counties
- TransitBetter than 84% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 82% of counties
Where Emporia City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Emporia City
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Emporia City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,809, 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 Emporia City's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Emporia City
Emporia City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Emporia City.
Who works in Emporia City, and how
Work in Emporia City centers on manufacturing and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Emporia City
Emporia City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 99% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Emporia City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Emporia City growing, and who is moving in?
Emporia City has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Greensville County, VA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Emporia City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Emporia City, month by month
Emporia City sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 45° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Emporia City
Richmond International sits about 58 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 Emporia City
Schools across Emporia City average a B−, better than 68% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Greensville ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Edward W. Wyatt MiddleB− · 39% proficient
- Belfield ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Greensville County HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Emporia City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Emporia 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 Emporia City against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Emporia City
Is Emporia City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Emporia City ranks 2,815th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and transit, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Emporia City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $184,806. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $64,809 median income, cost of living beats 41% of counties.
Is Emporia City safe?
Emporia City is safer than 1% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,034 per resident a year.
Compare Emporia City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Emporia City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Emporia 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.
Emporia City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Emporia City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Emporia City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Emporia City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Emporia City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Emporia 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.