Best PlacesFoneswood, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Foneswood, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Foneswood ranks 30,964th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Foneswood
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.
Foneswood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Foneswood ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 78% of towns
Where Foneswood ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Foneswood
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Foneswood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,543, 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 Foneswood's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Foneswood
Foneswood runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Foneswood.
Who works in Foneswood, and how
Work in Foneswood centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Foneswood
The coast is about 9 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Foneswood, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Foneswood, month by month
Foneswood sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Foneswood
Richmond International sits about 48 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 Foneswood
Schools across Foneswood average a B, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Richmond County ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Washington District ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Montross MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Rappahannock HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Westmoreland HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Foneswood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Foneswood 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 Foneswood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Foneswood
Is Foneswood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Foneswood ranks 30,964th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, quiet, and tree cover, and lowest on education levels and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Foneswood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,555. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $71,543 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Foneswood safe?
Foneswood is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $451 per resident a year.
Compare Foneswood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Foneswood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Foneswood 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.
Foneswood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Foneswood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Foneswood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Foneswood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Foneswood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Foneswood 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.