Best PlacesHollins, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hollins, 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.
Hollins ranks 9,626th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hollins
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.
Hollins' strengths and weaknesses
Where Hollins ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 89% of towns
Where Hollins ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Cheap childcare$964 a month, better than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hollins
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hollins home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,185, 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 Hollins' effective rate of 0.85%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hollins
Hollins 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 Hollins.
Who works in Hollins, and how
Work in Hollins centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hollins
Hollins has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns and more parkland per resident than 82% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hollins and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hollins, month by month
Hollins sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, 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 | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Hollins
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hollins
Schools across Hollins average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mason's Cove ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Greenfield ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Glen Cove ElementaryA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Read Mountain MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
- Glenvar MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Northside MiddleA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Glenvar HighA+ · 85% proficient
- Lord Botetourt HighA+ · 85% proficient
- Northside HighA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hollins school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hollins 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 Hollins against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hollins
Is Hollins a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hollins ranks 9,626th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, low disaster risk, and transit, and lowest on noise and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hollins expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $242,061. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $81,185 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Hollins safe?
Hollins is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $363 per resident a year.
Compare Hollins with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hollins. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hollins 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.
Hollins detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hollins: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hollins: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hollins: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hollins: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hollins 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.