Best PlacesMontford, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Montford, 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.
Montford ranks 17,127th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Montford
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.
Montford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Montford ranks high
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 81% of towns
Where Montford ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap childcare$919 a month, better than only 34% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Montford
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $74,267; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Montford's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Montford
Montford 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 Montford.
Who works in Montford, and how
Work in Montford centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Montford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Montford.
What the weather is like in Montford, month by month
Montford sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Montford
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 61 miles away.
The best schools in and around Montford
Schools across Montford average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Orange ElementaryA− · 56% proficient
- Waverly Yowell ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Prospect Heights MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- William H. Wetsel MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Orange County HighA · 67% proficient
- Madison County HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montford 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 Montford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Montford
Is Montford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montford ranks 17,127th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on a weak job market and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Montford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $298,721. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $74,267 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Montford safe?
Montford is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $341 per resident a year.
Compare Montford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montford 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.
Montford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montford 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.