Best PlacesMax Meadows, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Max Meadows, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Max Meadows ranks 19,472nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Max Meadows
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.
Max Meadows' strengths and weaknesses
Where Max Meadows ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap childcare$565 a month, better than 83% of towns
Where Max Meadows ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 26% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 28% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Max Meadows
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Max Meadows home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,269, 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 Max Meadows' effective rate of 0.59%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Max Meadows
Max Meadows 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 Max Meadows.
Who works in Max Meadows, and how
Work in Max Meadows centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Max Meadows
Max Meadows has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Max Meadows and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Max Meadows, month by month
Max Meadows sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 66° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Max Meadows
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 59 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around Max Meadows
Schools across Max Meadows average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Max Meadows ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Sheffey ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Spiller ElementaryA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Scott Memorial MiddleA+ · 77% proficient
- Fort Chiswell MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- George Wythe HighA · 73% proficient
- Fort Chiswell HighA− · 63% proficient
- Pulaski County Senior HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Max Meadows school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Max Meadows 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 Max Meadows against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Max Meadows
Is Max Meadows a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Max Meadows ranks 19,472nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and good schools, and lowest on noise and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Max Meadows expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,454. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $67,269 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Max Meadows safe?
Yes, Max Meadows is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $292 per resident a year.
Compare Max Meadows with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Max Meadows. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Max Meadows 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.
Max Meadows detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Max Meadows: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Max Meadows: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Max Meadows: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Max Meadows: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Max Meadows 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.