Best PlacesNarrows, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Narrows, 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.
Narrows ranks 26,991st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Noise pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Narrows
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.
Narrows' strengths and weaknesses
Where Narrows ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 84% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 78% of towns
Where Narrows ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 29% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 30% of towns
- Household income$62,062 median, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Narrows
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Narrows home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,062, 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 Narrows' effective rate of 0.57%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Narrows
Narrows runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Narrows.
Who works in Narrows, and how
Work in Narrows centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Narrows
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Narrows.
What the weather is like in Narrows, month by month
Narrows sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Narrows
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Narrows
Schools across Narrows average an A−, better than 84% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bland County ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Macy Mcclaugherty Elementary/middleA− · 59% proficient
- Narrows Elementary/middleA− · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Peterstown Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Bland County HighA · 73% proficient
- Narrows HighA− · 63% proficient
- Giles HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Narrows school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Narrows 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 Narrows against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Narrows
Is Narrows a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Narrows ranks 26,991st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and low disaster risk, 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 Narrows expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $128,918. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $62,062 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Narrows safe?
Narrows is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
Compare Narrows with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Narrows. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Narrows 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.
Narrows detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Narrows: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Narrows: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Narrows: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Narrows: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Narrows 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.