Best PlacesGainesville, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gainesville, 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.
Gainesville ranks 89th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gainesville
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.
Gainesville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gainesville ranks high
- Household income$170,084 median, better than 96% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 95% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 90% of cities
Where Gainesville ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of cities
- Short commute33.2 minutes each way, better than only 10% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,332 a month, better than only 28% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 31% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Gainesville
A household needs to earn about $180,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gainesville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $170,084; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Gainesville's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gainesville
Gainesville runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gainesville.
Who works in Gainesville, and how
Work in Gainesville centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Gainesville
Gainesville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of cities and more late-night spots per resident than 87% of cities. The coast is about 31 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gainesville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gainesville, month by month
Gainesville sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 34° | 23° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Gainesville
Washington Dulles International sits about 13 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 13.9 million passengers in 2025, with 200 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Gainesville
Schools across Gainesville average an A, better than 95% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Glenkirk ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Buckland Mills ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Greenville ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ronald Wilson Reagan MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Gainesville MiddleA+ · 71% proficient
- Bull Run MiddleA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Battlefield HighA+ · 83% proficient
- Patriot HighA · 75% proficient
- Kettle Run HighA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gainesville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gainesville 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 Gainesville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Gainesville suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of cities and 27% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Gainesville
Is Gainesville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gainesville ranks 89th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on high incomes, good schools, and what local pay buys, and lowest on internet speeds and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gainesville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $681,187. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $170,084 median income, cost of living beats 93% of cities.
Is Gainesville safe?
Yes, Gainesville is safer than 79% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $235 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gainesville?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 23. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 41% of cities.
Is Gainesville good for families?
Schools beat 95% of cities, crime safety beats 79%, and childcare runs $1,332 a month.
Compare Gainesville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gainesville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gainesville 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.
Gainesville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gainesville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gainesville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gainesville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gainesville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gainesville 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.