Best PlacesFlat Gap, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Flat Gap, 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.
Flat Gap ranks 31,361st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Flat Gap
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.
Flat Gap's strengths and weaknesses
Where Flat Gap ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap childcare$576 a month, better than 81% of towns
Where Flat Gap ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$49,887 median, better than only 12% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Flat Gap
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Flat Gap home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,887, 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 Flat Gap's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Flat Gap
Flat Gap 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 Flat Gap.
Who works in Flat Gap, and how
Work in Flat Gap centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Flat Gap
Flat Gap has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Flat Gap and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Flat Gap, month by month
Flat Gap sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 45° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Flat Gap
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 161 miles away.
The best schools in and around Flat Gap
Schools across Flat Gap average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wise PrimaryA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- L.f. Addington MiddleA+ · 79% proficient
- Union MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Central HighA+ · 85% proficient
- Union HighA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Flat Gap school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Flat Gap 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 Flat Gap against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Flat Gap
Is Flat Gap a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Flat Gap ranks 31,361st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, heat safety, and a strong job market, and lowest on education levels and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Flat Gap expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $117,068. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $49,887 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Flat Gap safe?
Flat Gap is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $317 per resident a year.
Compare Flat Gap with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Flat Gap. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Flat Gap 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.
Flat Gap detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Flat Gap: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Flat Gap: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Flat Gap: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Flat Gap: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Flat Gap 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.