Best PlacesHowland, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Howland, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Howland ranks 38,902nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Howland
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.
Howland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Howland ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
Where Howland ranks low
- Short commute43.0 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Howland
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Howland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,576, 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 Howland's effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Howland
Howland runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Howland.
Who works in Howland, and how
Work in Howland centers on public administration and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Howland
The coast is about 20 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Howland, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Howland, month by month
Howland sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Howland
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Howland
Schools across Howland average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northumberland ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northumberland MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Northumberland HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Howland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Howland 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 Howland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Howland
Is Howland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Howland ranks 38,902nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, cheap car insurance, and health care access, and lowest on long commutes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Howland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,000. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $56,576 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Howland safe?
Howland is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $385 per resident a year.
Compare Howland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Howland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Howland 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.
Howland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Howland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Howland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Howland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Howland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Howland 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.