Best PlacesMontvale, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Montvale, 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.
Montvale ranks 32,478th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Montvale
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.
Montvale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Montvale ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 79% of towns
Where Montvale ranks low
- Short commute37.0 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Montvale
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montvale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $57,261; 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 Montvale's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Montvale
Montvale 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 Montvale.
Who works in Montvale, and how
Work in Montvale centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 0%
Life in Montvale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Montvale.
What the weather is like in Montvale, month by month
Montvale 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 Montvale
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Montvale
Schools across Montvale average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Buchanan ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Montvale ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Academy MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Liberty MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- James River HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Liberty HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montvale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montvale 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 Montvale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Montvale
Is Montvale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montvale ranks 32,478th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, and lowest on long commutes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Montvale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,518. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $57,261 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Montvale safe?
Yes, Montvale is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $266 per resident a year.
Compare Montvale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montvale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montvale 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.
Montvale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montvale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montvale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montvale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montvale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montvale 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.