Best PlacesFalls Church City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Falls Church City, 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.
Falls Church City ranks 6th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Falls Church 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.
Falls Church City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Falls Church City ranks high
- Household income$170,393 median, better than 99% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of counties
Where Falls Church City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,694 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Short commute28.7 minutes each way, better than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Falls Church City
A household needs to earn about $266,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Falls Church City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $170,393, 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 Falls Church City's effective rate of 1.14%, 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 Falls Church City
Falls Church City'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 Falls Church City.
Who works in Falls Church City, and how
Work in Falls Church City centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Falls Church City
Falls Church City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 99% of counties. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Falls Church City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Falls Church City growing, and who is moving in?
Falls Church City has grown about 12% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Washington, DC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Falls Church City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Falls Church City, month by month
Falls Church City sees roughly 65 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 Falls Church City
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 8 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 Falls Church City
Schools across Falls Church City average an A+, better than 99% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Oak Street ElementaryA+ · 82% proficient
- Timber Lane ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Longfellow MiddleA+ · 90% proficient
- Mary Ellen Henderson MiddleA+ · 85% proficient
Top high schools
- Meridian HighA+ · 89% proficient
- Mclean HighA+ · 82% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Falls Church City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Falls Church 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 Falls Church City against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Falls Church City
Is Falls Church City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Falls Church City ranks 6th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on high incomes, an educated workforce, and health care access, 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 Falls Church City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $973,639. The overall cost of living runs about 58% above the national average. Set against a $170,393 median income, cost of living beats 94% of counties.
Is Falls Church City safe?
Falls Church City is safer than 50% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.
Compare Falls Church City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Falls Church City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Falls Church 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.
Falls Church City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Falls Church City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Falls Church City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Falls Church City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Falls Church City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Falls Church 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.