Best PlacesFork Union, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fork Union, 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.
Fork Union ranks 14,321st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on good schools.
The best neighborhoods in Fork Union
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.
Fork Union's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fork Union ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 85% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 82% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 78% of towns
Where Fork Union ranks low
- Short commute37.2 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 38% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fork Union
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fork Union home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,425, 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 Fork Union'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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fork Union
Fork Union runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fork Union.
Who works in Fork Union, and how
Work in Fork Union centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Fork Union
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fork Union.
What the weather is like in Fork Union, month by month
Fork Union sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 30° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 85° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 69° | 60° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Fork Union
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fork Union
Schools across Fork Union average an A−, better than 85% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Fluvanna MiddleA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Fluvanna County HighA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fork Union school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fork Union 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 Fork Union against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fork Union
Is Fork Union a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fork Union ranks 14,321st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, a strong job market, and an educated workforce, and lowest on long commutes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fork Union expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,650. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $73,425 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Fork Union safe?
Fork Union is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $304 per resident a year.
Compare Fork Union with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fork Union. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fork Union 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.
Fork Union detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fork Union: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fork Union: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fork Union: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fork Union: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fork Union 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.