Best PlacesIron Gate, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Iron Gate, 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.
Iron Gate ranks 24,778th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Iron Gate
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.
Iron Gate's strengths and weaknesses
Where Iron Gate ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of towns
Where Iron Gate ranks low
- Household income$44,179 median, better than only 7% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Iron Gate
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Iron Gate home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $44,179, 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 Iron Gate's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Iron Gate
Iron Gate 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 Iron Gate.
Who works in Iron Gate, and how
Work in Iron Gate centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Iron Gate
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Iron Gate.
What the weather is like in Iron Gate, month by month
Iron Gate sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 79° | 70° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Iron Gate
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Iron Gate
Schools across Iron Gate average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sharon ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Eagle Rock ElementaryA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Academy MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Clifton MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- James River HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Alleghany HighA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Iron Gate school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Iron Gate 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 Iron Gate against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Iron Gate
Is Iron Gate a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Iron Gate ranks 24,778th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, transit, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on low incomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Iron Gate expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $122,474. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $44,179 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Iron Gate safe?
Yes, Iron Gate is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
Compare Iron Gate with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Iron Gate. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Iron Gate 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.
Iron Gate detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Iron Gate: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Iron Gate: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Iron Gate: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Iron Gate: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Iron Gate 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.