Best PlacesMontclair, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Montclair, 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.
Montclair ranks 931st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Montclair
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.
Montclair's strengths and weaknesses
Where Montclair ranks high
- Household income$162,523 median, better than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
Where Montclair ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,333 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Short commute37.8 minutes each way, better than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Montclair
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montclair home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $162,523, 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 Montclair's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Montclair
Montclair's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Montclair.
Who works in Montclair, and how
Work in Montclair centers on public administration and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Montclair
The coast is about 9 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Montclair, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Montclair, month by month
Montclair sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 73° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Montclair
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 23 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Montclair
Schools across Montclair average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ashland ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
- A. Henderson ElementaryA · 69% proficient
- Montclair ElementaryA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Louise A. Benton MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- Rippon MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Herbert J. Saunders MiddleA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Forest Park HighA · 71% proficient
- C.d. Hylton HighA · 69% proficient
- Potomac HighA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montclair school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montclair 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 Montclair against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Montclair suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 27% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Montclair
Is Montclair a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montclair ranks 931st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, transit, and biking, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Montclair expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $558,694. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $162,523 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Montclair safe?
Yes, Montclair is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $272 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Montclair?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 28. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of towns.
Is Montclair good for families?
Schools beat 90% of towns, crime safety beats 61%, and childcare runs $1,333 a month.
Compare Montclair with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montclair. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montclair 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.
Montclair detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montclair: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montclair: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montclair: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montclair: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montclair 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.