Best PlacesPampa, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pampa, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pampa ranks 11,166th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pampa
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.
Pampa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pampa ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of towns
Where Pampa ranks low
- Short commute38.0 minutes each way, better than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pampa
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pampa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $94,742; 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 Pampa's effective rate of 0.59%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Pampa
Pampa runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Pampa.
Who works in Pampa, and how
Work in Pampa centers on construction and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Pampa
The coast is about 15 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Pampa, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pampa, month by month
Pampa sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Pampa
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 39 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pampa
Schools across Pampa average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Petsworth ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Peasley MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Gloucester HighA · 69% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pampa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pampa 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 Pampa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pampa
Is Pampa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pampa ranks 11,166th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and what local pay buys, and lowest on long commutes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pampa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $411,600. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $94,742 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Pampa safe?
Yes, Pampa is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $265 per resident a year.
Compare Pampa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pampa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pampa 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.
Pampa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pampa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pampa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pampa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pampa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pampa 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.