Best PlacesMontross, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Montross, 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.
Montross ranks 34,772nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Montross
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.
Montross' strengths and weaknesses
Where Montross ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 69% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 66% of towns
Where Montross ranks low
- Short commute44.2 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Montross
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montross home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $69,736; 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 Montross' effective rate of 0.60%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Montross
Montross 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 Montross.
Who works in Montross, and how
Work in Montross centers on public administration 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 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Montross
Montross has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. The coast is about 7 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Montross and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Montross, month by month
Montross sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Montross
Richmond International sits about 52 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Montross
Schools across Montross average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Richmond County ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Cople ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Washington District ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Montross MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Rappahannock HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Westmoreland HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montross school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montross 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 Montross against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Montross
Is Montross a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montross ranks 34,772nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, cheap car insurance, and tree cover, and lowest on long commutes and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Montross expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $288,826. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $69,736 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Montross safe?
Montross is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
Compare Montross with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montross. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montross 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.
Montross detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montross: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montross: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montross: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montross: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montross 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.