Best PlacesFairfield, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fairfield, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fairfield ranks 17,272nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fairfield
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.
Fairfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fairfield ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of towns
Where Fairfield ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 32% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 35% of towns
- Short commute29.0 minutes each way, better than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fairfield
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,801, 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 Fairfield's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Fairfield
Fairfield runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fairfield.
Who works in Fairfield, and how
Work in Fairfield centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Fairfield
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fairfield.
What the weather is like in Fairfield, month by month
Fairfield sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 79° | 70° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Fairfield
The nearest airport, Shenandoah Valley Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 111 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fairfield
Schools across Fairfield average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain View ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Fairfield ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maury River MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Rockbridge County HighA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairfield 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 Fairfield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fairfield
Is Fairfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairfield ranks 17,272nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, cheap car insurance, and health care access, and lowest on noise and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fairfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,715. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $67,801 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Fairfield safe?
Yes, Fairfield is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare Fairfield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairfield 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.
Fairfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairfield 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.