Best PlacesOnancock, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Onancock, 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.
Onancock ranks 28,117th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Onancock
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.
Onancock's strengths and weaknesses
Where Onancock ranks high
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 82% of towns
Where Onancock ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Onancock
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Onancock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $63,340, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Onancock's effective rate of 0.46%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Onancock
Onancock 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 Onancock.
Who works in Onancock, and how
Work in Onancock centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Onancock
The coast is about 29 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Onancock, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Onancock, month by month
Onancock sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 47, 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 | 47° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 67° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Onancock
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Onancock
Schools across Onancock average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pungoteague ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Accawmacke ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nandua MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Nandua HighA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Onancock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Onancock 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 Onancock against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Onancock
Is Onancock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Onancock ranks 28,117th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and biking, and lowest on disaster risk and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Onancock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $295,847. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $63,340 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Onancock safe?
Onancock is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $436 per resident a year.
Compare Onancock with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Onancock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Onancock 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.
Onancock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Onancock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Onancock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Onancock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Onancock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Onancock 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.