Best PlacesGold Dale, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gold Dale, 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.
Gold Dale ranks 5,556th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gold Dale
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.
Gold Dale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gold Dale ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Household income$107,112 median, better than 89% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
Where Gold Dale ranks low
- Short commute44.0 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cheap childcare$931 a month, better than only 32% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 75 pleasant days a year, better than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gold Dale
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gold Dale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $107,112, 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 Gold Dale's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Gold Dale
Gold Dale runs younger 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 Gold Dale.
Who works in Gold Dale, and how
Work in Gold Dale centers on retail trade and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Gold Dale
The coast is about 43 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Gold Dale, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gold Dale, month by month
Gold Dale sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Gold Dale
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 51 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gold Dale
Schools across Gold Dale average an A−, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brock Road ElementaryA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ni River MiddleA+ · 71% proficient
- Locust Grove MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Post Oak MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Riverbend HighA · 75% proficient
- Orange County HighA · 67% proficient
- Spotsylvania HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gold Dale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gold Dale 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 Gold Dale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gold Dale
Is Gold Dale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gold Dale ranks 5,556th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, good schools, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gold Dale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $342,123. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $107,112 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Gold Dale safe?
Yes, Gold Dale is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $222 per resident a year.
Compare Gold Dale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gold Dale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gold Dale 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.
Gold Dale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gold Dale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gold Dale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gold Dale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gold Dale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gold Dale 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.