Best PlacesHampton City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Hampton City, 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.
Hampton City ranks 1,090th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Its strengths are transit and cell coverage. The cost shows up in noise, an overheated housing market, and crime.
The best neighborhoods in Hampton City
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.
Hampton City's strengths and weaknesses
Hampton City lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Transit, cell coverage, and good schools carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, an overheated housing market, and crime hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Hampton City ranks high
- TransitBetter than 96% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of counties
- BikingBetter than 92% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of counties
Where Hampton City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Hampton City
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hampton City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,440, 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 Hampton City's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 Hampton City
Hampton City's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Hampton City.
Who works in Hampton City, and how
Work in Hampton City centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Hampton City
Hampton City has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 80% of counties. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hampton City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Hampton City growing, and who is moving in?
Hampton City has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Virginia Beach, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Hampton City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Hampton City, month by month
Hampton City sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| April | 72° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 90° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 75° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Hampton City
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 61 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hampton City
Schools across Hampton City average an A−, better than 92% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Armstrong ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- George P. Phenix ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Phillips ElementaryA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Francis W. Jones Magnet MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Cesar Tarrant MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Benjamin Syms MiddleA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Kecoughtan HighA · 71% proficient
- Bethel HighA · 68% proficient
- Hampton HighA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hampton City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hampton City 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 Hampton City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Hampton City suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Hampton City
Is Hampton City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hampton City ranks 1,090th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, cell coverage, and good schools, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hampton City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $253,990. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $76,440 median income, cost of living beats 78% of counties.
Is Hampton City safe?
Hampton City is safer than 11% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $565 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hampton City?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 32. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of counties.
Is Hampton City good for families?
Schools beat 92% of counties, crime safety beats 11%, and childcare runs $853 a month.
Is Hampton City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 64% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hampton City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hampton City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hampton City 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.
Hampton City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hampton City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hampton City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hampton City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hampton City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hampton City 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.