Best PlacesMelfa, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Melfa, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Melfa ranks 32,390th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Melfa
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.
Melfa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Melfa ranks high
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 81% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 80% of towns
Where Melfa ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Household income$52,347 median, better than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Melfa
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Melfa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $52,347, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Melfa's effective rate of 0.48%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Melfa
Melfa 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 Melfa.
Who works in Melfa, and how
Work in Melfa centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Melfa
The coast is about 22 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Melfa, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Melfa, month by month
Melfa sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 67° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Melfa
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 86 miles away.
The best schools in and around Melfa
Schools across Melfa average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pungoteague ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Accawmacke ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nandua MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Nandua HighA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Melfa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Melfa 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 Melfa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Melfa
Is Melfa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Melfa ranks 32,390th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, short commutes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on disaster risk and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Melfa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,167. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $52,347 median income, cost of living beats 19% of towns.
Is Melfa safe?
Melfa is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $410 per resident a year.
Compare Melfa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Melfa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Melfa 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.
Melfa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Melfa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Melfa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Melfa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Melfa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Melfa 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.