Best PlacesMoneta, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Moneta, 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.
Moneta ranks 21,910th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Moneta
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.
Moneta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Moneta ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
Where Moneta ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute35.6 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Moneta
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Moneta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $73,742, 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 Moneta's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 Moneta
Moneta 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 Moneta.
Who works in Moneta, and how
Work in Moneta centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Moneta
Moneta has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Moneta and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Moneta, month by month
Moneta sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Moneta
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Moneta
Schools across Moneta average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dudley ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Moneta ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Stewartsville ElementaryA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Benjamin Franklin MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Liberty MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Staunton River MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Franklin County HighA · 76% proficient
- Liberty HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Staunton River HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Moneta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Moneta 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 Moneta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Moneta
Is Moneta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Moneta ranks 21,910th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, low disaster risk, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Moneta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $335,176. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $73,742 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Moneta safe?
Yes, Moneta is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $251 per resident a year.
Compare Moneta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Moneta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Moneta 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.
Moneta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Moneta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Moneta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Moneta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Moneta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Moneta 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.