Best PlacesHockley, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hockley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hockley ranks 15,666th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hockley
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.
Hockley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hockley ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$106,474 median, better than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
Where Hockley ranks low
- Short commute42.2 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hockley
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hockley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $106,474, 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 Hockley's effective rate of 0.65%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hockley
Hockley's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hockley.
Who works in Hockley, and how
Work in Hockley centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Hockley
The coast is about 30 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hockley, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hockley, month by month
Hockley sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Hockley
Richmond International sits about 25 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hockley
Schools across Hockley average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Kent ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Kent MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Hamilton Holmes MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- New Kent HighA · 76% proficient
- King William HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hockley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hockley 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 Hockley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hockley
Is Hockley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hockley ranks 15,666th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and tree cover, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hockley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $354,767. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $106,474 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Hockley safe?
Hockley is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
Compare Hockley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hockley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hockley 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.
Hockley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hockley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hockley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hockley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hockley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hockley 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.