Best PlacesLowry, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lowry, 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.
Lowry ranks 30,827th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on good schools, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lowry
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.
Lowry's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lowry ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of towns
Where Lowry ranks low
- Household income$49,928 median, better than only 12% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 67 pleasant days a year, better than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lowry
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lowry home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,928, 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 Lowry'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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lowry
Lowry 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 Lowry.
Who works in Lowry, and how
Work in Lowry centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lowry
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lowry.
What the weather is like in Lowry, month by month
Lowry sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 37° | 26° |
| April | 74° | 58° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 66° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Lowry
The nearest airport, Lynchburg Regional/Preston Glenn Field, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lowry
Schools across Lowry average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Otter River ElementaryA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Forest MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
- Liberty MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Jefferson Forest HighA · 70% proficient
- Liberty HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lowry school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lowry 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 Lowry against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lowry
Is Lowry a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lowry ranks 30,827th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, 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 Lowry expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $179,378. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $49,928 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Lowry safe?
Lowry is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $373 per resident a year.
Compare Lowry with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lowry. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lowry 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.
Lowry detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lowry: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lowry: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lowry: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lowry: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lowry 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.