Best PlacesFoster, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Foster, 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.
Foster ranks 18,510th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Foster
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.
Foster's strengths and weaknesses
Where Foster ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 82% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 81% of towns
Where Foster ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute32.0 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Foster
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Foster home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,202, 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 Foster's effective rate of 0.49%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Foster
Foster 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 Foster.
Who works in Foster, and how
Work in Foster centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Foster
The coast is about 7 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Foster, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Foster, month by month
Foster sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Foster
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Foster
Schools across Foster average an A−, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mathews ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thomas Hunter MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Mathews HighA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Foster school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Foster 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 Foster against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Foster
Is Foster a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Foster ranks 18,510th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on disaster risk and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Foster expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $357,615. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $79,202 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Foster safe?
Yes, Foster is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.
Compare Foster with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Foster. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Foster 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.
Foster detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Foster: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Foster: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Foster: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Foster: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Foster 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.