Best PlacesOnley, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Onley, 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.
Onley ranks 29,657th 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 Onley
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.
Onley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Onley ranks high
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
Where Onley ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Onley
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Onley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $60,544; 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 Onley's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Onley
Onley's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Onley.
Who works in Onley, and how
Work in Onley centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Onley
Onley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns. The coast is about 25 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Onley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Onley, month by month
Onley sees roughly 71 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 Onley
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 89 miles away.
The best schools in and around Onley
Schools across Onley 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 Onley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Onley 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 Onley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Onley
Is Onley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Onley ranks 29,657th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and cheap car insurance, 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 Onley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $263,740. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $60,544 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Onley safe?
Onley is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $430 per resident a year.
Compare Onley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Onley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Onley 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.
Onley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Onley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Onley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Onley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Onley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Onley 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.