Best PlacesHat Creek, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hat Creek, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hat Creek ranks 26,665th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hat Creek
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.
Hat Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hat Creek ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 86% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
Where Hat Creek ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hat Creek
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hat Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,384, 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 Hat Creek's effective rate of 0.41%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hat Creek
Hat Creek runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hat Creek.
Who works in Hat Creek, and how
Work in Hat Creek centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Hat Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hat Creek.
What the weather is like in Hat Creek, month by month
Hat Creek sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 37° | 26° |
| April | 74° | 58° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 66° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Hat Creek
The nearest airport, Lynchburg Regional/Preston Glenn Field, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hat Creek
Schools across Hat Creek average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brookneal ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rustburg MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Rustburg HighA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hat Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hat Creek 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 Hat Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hat Creek
Is Hat Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hat Creek ranks 26,665th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, low disaster risk, and low property taxes, and lowest on internet speeds and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hat Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,400. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $59,384 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Hat Creek safe?
Hat Creek is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
Compare Hat Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hat Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hat Creek 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.
Hat Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hat Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hat Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hat Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hat Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hat Creek 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.