Best PlacesOrbit, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orbit, 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.
Orbit ranks 12,437th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Orbit
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.
Orbit's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orbit ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of towns
Where Orbit ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Orbit
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orbit home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,819, 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 Orbit's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Orbit
Orbit's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Orbit.
Who works in Orbit, and how
Work in Orbit centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Orbit
The coast is about 41 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Orbit, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Orbit, month by month
Orbit sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, 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 | 54° | 41° | 30° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Orbit
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 56 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orbit
Schools across Orbit average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Windsor ElementaryA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Georgie D. Tyler MiddleA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Windsor HighA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orbit school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orbit 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 Orbit against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Orbit
Is Orbit a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orbit ranks 12,437th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on the weather and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orbit expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $242,007. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $68,819 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Orbit safe?
Yes, Orbit is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $164 per resident a year.
Compare Orbit with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orbit. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orbit 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.
Orbit detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orbit: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orbit: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orbit: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orbit: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orbit 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.