Best PlacesHampton, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hampton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hampton ranks 266th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on internet speeds and state finances. It does better on good schools, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Hampton
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.
The best areas in Hampton
The parts of Hampton, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Foxhill & North King St
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and crime runs lower.
Magruder & Mercury Central
Health outcomes score higher and it is quieter.
Northampton
Fewer households have young kids.
Buckroe
Homes cost less, though more homes sit empty.
Greater Wythe & Downtown Hampton
Transit reaches more jobs, though prices have run up more.
Langley Air Force Base
Tree cover is thicker.
Central Hampton
Fewer adults hold degrees and fewer residents vote.
Aberdeen
Heat risk is higher.
Phoebus
Biking is better, though health care is harder to reach.
Hampton shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 8% of the country and others in the top 8%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Hampton's strengths and weaknesses
Hampton lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Good schools, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Internet speeds, state finances, and health outcomes hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Hampton ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 94% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 75% of cities
- Cheap childcare$854 a month, better than 74% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 73% of cities
Where Hampton ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Hampton
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hampton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,063, 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's effective rate of 0.93%, 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
Hampton'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.
Who works in Hampton, and how
Work in Hampton 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
Hampton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of cities and more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hampton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hampton, month by month
Hampton 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
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
Schools across Hampton average an A−, better than 94% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Tabb ElementaryA+ · 82% proficient
- Bethel Manor ElementaryA+ · 81% proficient
- Armstrong ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tabb MiddleA+ · 85% proficient
- Great Neck MiddleA+ · 85% proficient
- Grafton MiddleA+ · 82% proficient
Top high schools
- Tabb HighA+ · 85% proficient
- Frank W. Cox HighA+ · 83% proficient
- Grafton HighA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hampton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hampton 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 against the other 444 cities.
Who Hampton suits
Common questions about living in Hampton
Is Hampton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hampton ranks 266th of 445 cities. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, and lowest on internet speeds and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hampton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,826. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $77,063 median income, cost of living beats 60% of cities.
Is Hampton safe?
Hampton is safer than 15% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $568 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hampton?
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 cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hampton?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Foxhill & North King St, Magruder & Mercury Central, and Northampton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Hampton good for families?
Schools beat 94% of cities, crime safety beats 15%, and childcare runs $854 a month.
Is Hampton good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 60% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 12% of cities. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hampton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hampton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hampton 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hampton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hampton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hampton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hampton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hampton 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.