Best PlacesHandsom, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Handsom, 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.
Handsom ranks 31,972nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Handsom
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.
Handsom's strengths and weaknesses
Where Handsom ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 81% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 76% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 69% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 68% of towns
Where Handsom ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Handsom
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Handsom home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,323, 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 Handsom's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Handsom
Handsom 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 Handsom.
Who works in Handsom, and how
Work in Handsom centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Handsom
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Handsom.
What the weather is like in Handsom, month by month
Handsom sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 40° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Handsom
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Handsom
Schools across Handsom average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Meherrin ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Riverdale ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southampton MiddleB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Southampton HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Franklin HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Handsom school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Handsom 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 Handsom against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Handsom
Is Handsom a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Handsom ranks 31,972nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, clean air, and good schools, and lowest on a weak job market and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Handsom expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,500. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $58,323 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Handsom safe?
Yes, Handsom is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $250 per resident a year.
Compare Handsom with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Handsom. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Handsom 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.
Handsom detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Handsom: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Handsom: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Handsom: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Handsom: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Handsom 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.