Best PlacesNewport News, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Newport News, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Newport News ranks 335th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on crime and internet speeds. It does better on cheap car insurance, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Newport News
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 Newport News
The parts of Newport News, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Riverview & James Landing
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Saunders & Magruder
Prices have run up less and crime runs lower.
Deer Park, Christopher Newport & Palmer
Biking is better.
Reservoir, Greenwood & Denbigh
More households have young kids, though commutes are longer.
Downtown Newport News, Briarfield & Newmarket South
More homes sit empty and tree cover is thinner.
Newport News shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Newport News' strengths and weaknesses
Newport News ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Cheap car insurance, tree cover, and clean air carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: crime, internet speeds, and state finances all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Newport News ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 76% of cities
- Cheap childcare$871 a month, better than 72% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 62% of cities
Where Newport News ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 19% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Newport News
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Newport News home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,199, 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 Newport News' effective rate of 0.94%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Newport News
Newport News runs younger 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 Newport News.
Who works in Newport News, and how
Work in Newport News centers on health care & social 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 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Newport News
Newport News has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Newport News and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Newport News, month by month
Newport News sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 40° | 30° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Newport News
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Newport News
Schools across Newport News average a B−, better than 58% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Coventry ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Grafton Bethel ElementaryA+ · 77% proficient
- George P. Phenix ElementaryA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Grafton MiddleA+ · 82% proficient
- Yorktown MiddleA+ · 73% proficient
- Queens Lake MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
Top high schools
- Grafton HighA+ · 83% proficient
- York HighA+ · 80% proficient
- Bruton HighA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Newport News school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Newport News 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 Newport News against the other 444 cities.
Who Newport News suits
Common questions about living in Newport News
Is Newport News a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Newport News ranks 335th of 445 cities. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on crime and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Newport News expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,269. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $72,199 median income, cost of living beats 49% of cities.
Is Newport News safe?
Newport News is safer than 10% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $645 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Newport News?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 30. That works out to about 71 pleasant days a year, more than 23% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Newport News?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Riverview & James Landing, Saunders & Magruder, and Deer Park, Christopher Newport & Palmer. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Newport News good for families?
Schools beat 58% of cities, crime safety beats 10%, and childcare runs $871 a month.
Is Newport News good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 49% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 12% of cities. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Newport News with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Newport News. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Newport News 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.
Newport News detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Newport News: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Newport News: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Newport News: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Newport News: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Newport News 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.