Best PlacesMouth of Laurel, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mouth of Laurel, 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.
Mouth of Laurel ranks 38,669th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mouth of Laurel
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.
Mouth of Laurel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mouth of Laurel ranks high
- Cheap childcare$480 a month, better than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of towns
Where Mouth of Laurel ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,197 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mouth of Laurel
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mouth of Laurel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,197, 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 Mouth of Laurel's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mouth of Laurel
Mouth of Laurel 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 Mouth of Laurel.
Who works in Mouth of Laurel, and how
Work in Mouth of Laurel centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mouth of Laurel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mouth of Laurel.
What the weather is like in Mouth of Laurel, month by month
Mouth of Laurel sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 44° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Mouth of Laurel
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mouth of Laurel
Schools across Mouth of Laurel average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Richlands ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Cedar Bluff ElementaryA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Richlands MiddleA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Richlands HighA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mouth of Laurel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mouth of Laurel 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 Mouth of Laurel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mouth of Laurel
Is Mouth of Laurel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mouth of Laurel ranks 38,669th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and good schools, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mouth of Laurel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $95,161. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $40,197 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Mouth of Laurel safe?
Mouth of Laurel is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $375 per resident a year.
Compare Mouth of Laurel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mouth of Laurel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mouth of Laurel 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.
Mouth of Laurel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mouth of Laurel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mouth of Laurel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mouth of Laurel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mouth of Laurel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mouth of Laurel 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.