Best PlacesLocust Dale, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Locust Dale, 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.
Locust Dale ranks 8,512th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Internet speeds pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Locust Dale
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.
Locust Dale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Locust Dale ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Household income$99,519 median, better than 84% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 80% of towns
Where Locust Dale ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,021 a month, better than only 24% of towns
- Short commute31.6 minutes each way, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Locust Dale
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Locust Dale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $99,519; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Locust Dale's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Locust Dale
Locust Dale runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Locust Dale.
Who works in Locust Dale, and how
Work in Locust Dale centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Locust Dale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Locust Dale.
What the weather is like in Locust Dale, month by month
Locust Dale sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Locust Dale
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Locust Dale
Schools across Locust Dale average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waverly Yowell ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Pearl Sample ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Floyd T. Binns MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- William H. Wetsel MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Eastern View HighA · 70% proficient
- Madison County HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Locust Dale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Locust Dale 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 Locust Dale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Locust Dale
Is Locust Dale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Locust Dale ranks 8,512th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, cheap car insurance, and low crime, and lowest on internet speeds and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Locust Dale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $437,842. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $99,519 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Locust Dale safe?
Yes, Locust Dale is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $199 per resident a year.
Compare Locust Dale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Locust Dale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Locust Dale 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.
Locust Dale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Locust Dale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Locust Dale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Locust Dale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Locust Dale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Locust Dale 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.