Best PlacesMontgomery County, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Montgomery County, 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.
Montgomery County ranks 241st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Montgomery County
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.
The best areas in Montgomery County
The parts of Montgomery County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Blacksburg
Biking is better, streets are more walkable, and transit reaches more jobs.
Riner
More households have young kids and more residents vote.
Christiansburg
Homes cost less, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Montgomery County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 7% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Montgomery County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Montgomery County ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- School gradeA, better than 97% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of counties
Where Montgomery County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 33% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 33% of counties
- Cheap childcare$845 a month, better than only 37% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Montgomery County
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montgomery County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,995, 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 Montgomery County's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 Montgomery County
Montgomery County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Montgomery County.
Who works in Montgomery County, and how
Work in Montgomery County centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Montgomery County
Montgomery County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 91% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Montgomery County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Montgomery County growing, and who is moving in?
Montgomery County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Washington, DC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Montgomery County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Montgomery County, month by month
Montgomery County sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Montgomery County
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Montgomery County
Schools across Montgomery County average an A, better than 97% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Gilbert Linkous ElementaryA+ · 82% proficient
- Harding Avenue ElementaryA+ · 77% proficient
- Margaret Beeks ElementaryA · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Blacksburg MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- John N. Dalton IntermediateA+ · 68% proficient
- Auburn MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Blacksburg HighA+ · 84% proficient
- Christiansburg HighA · 73% proficient
- Radford HighA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montgomery County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montgomery County 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 Montgomery County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Montgomery County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Montgomery County
Is Montgomery County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montgomery County ranks 241st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, low disaster risk, 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 Montgomery County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $343,989. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $77,995 median income, cost of living beats 68% of counties.
Is Montgomery County safe?
Montgomery County is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $348 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Montgomery County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 25. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Montgomery County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Blacksburg, Riner, and Christiansburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Montgomery County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montgomery County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montgomery County 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.
Montgomery County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montgomery County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montgomery County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montgomery County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montgomery County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montgomery County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.