Best PlacesGargatha, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gargatha, 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.
Gargatha ranks 15,980th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on short commutes.
The best neighborhoods in Gargatha
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.
Gargatha's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gargatha ranks high
- Short commute20.1 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 77% of towns
Where Gargatha ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gargatha
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gargatha home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,250, 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 Gargatha's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gargatha
Gargatha 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 Gargatha.
Who works in Gargatha, and how
Work in Gargatha centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Gargatha
The coast is about 24 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Gargatha, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gargatha, month by month
Gargatha sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 50, 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 | 50° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 62° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Gargatha
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gargatha
Schools across Gargatha average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Metompkin ElementaryC · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Arcadia MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Arcadia HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gargatha school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gargatha 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 Gargatha against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gargatha
Is Gargatha a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gargatha ranks 15,980th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, cheap car insurance, and low crime, and lowest on disaster risk and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gargatha expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $192,100. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $81,250 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Gargatha safe?
Yes, Gargatha is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $209 per resident a year.
Compare Gargatha with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gargatha. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gargatha 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.
Gargatha detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gargatha: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gargatha: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gargatha: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gargatha: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gargatha 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.