Best PlacesLipps, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lipps, 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.
Lipps ranks 47,483rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lipps
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.
Lipps' strengths and weaknesses
Where Lipps ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Cheap childcare$576 a month, better than 81% of towns
Where Lipps ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute42.6 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- Household income$35,734 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lipps
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lipps home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $35,734, 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 Lipps' effective rate of 0.38%, 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 Lipps
Lipps 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 Lipps.
Who works in Lipps, and how
Work in Lipps centers on professional & technical and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lipps
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lipps.
What the weather is like in Lipps, month by month
Lipps sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 45° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Lipps
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 156 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lipps
Schools across Lipps average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wise PrimaryA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Union MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Union HighA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lipps school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lipps 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 Lipps against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lipps
Is Lipps a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lipps ranks 47,483rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, good schools, and low property taxes, and lowest on education levels and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lipps expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $110,056. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $35,734 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Lipps safe?
Lipps is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $633 per resident a year.
Compare Lipps with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lipps. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lipps 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.
Lipps detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lipps: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lipps: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lipps: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lipps: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lipps 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.