Best PlacesGlen Lyn, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Glen Lyn, 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.
Glen Lyn ranks 29,842nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on cheap car insurance, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Glen Lyn
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.
Glen Lyn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Glen Lyn ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 71% of towns
Where Glen Lyn ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 29% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Glen Lyn
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Glen Lyn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,635, 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 Glen Lyn's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Glen Lyn
Glen Lyn 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 Glen Lyn.
Who works in Glen Lyn, and how
Work in Glen Lyn centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Glen Lyn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Glen Lyn.
What the weather is like in Glen Lyn, month by month
Glen Lyn sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Glen Lyn
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 149 miles away.
The best schools in and around Glen Lyn
Schools across Glen Lyn average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Narrows Elementary/middleA− · 55% proficient
- Peterstown Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Peterstown Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Narrows HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Glen Lyn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Glen Lyn 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 Glen Lyn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Glen Lyn
Is Glen Lyn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Glen Lyn ranks 29,842nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, heat safety, and a stable housing market, and lowest on noise and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Glen Lyn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $121,965. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $66,635 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Glen Lyn safe?
Glen Lyn is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Glen Lyn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Glen Lyn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Glen Lyn 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.
Glen Lyn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Glen Lyn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Glen Lyn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Glen Lyn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Glen Lyn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Glen Lyn 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.