Best PlacesGala, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gala, 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.
Gala ranks 18,076th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gala
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.
Gala's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gala ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
Where Gala ranks low
- Household income$51,664 median, better than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 19% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 22% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gala
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gala home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,664, 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 Gala's effective rate of 0.69%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Gala
Gala runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gala.
Who works in Gala, and how
Work in Gala centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Gala
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gala.
What the weather is like in Gala, month by month
Gala sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 79° | 70° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Gala
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gala
Schools across Gala average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eagle Rock ElementaryA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Academy MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
Top high schools
- James River HighA+ · 86% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gala school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gala 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 Gala against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gala
Is Gala a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gala ranks 18,076th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, tree cover, and low disaster risk, and lowest on low incomes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gala expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,623. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $51,664 median income, cost of living beats 19% of towns.
Is Gala safe?
Yes, Gala is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
Compare Gala with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gala. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gala 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.
Gala detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gala: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gala: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gala: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gala: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gala 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.