Best PlacesPennington Gap, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pennington Gap, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pennington Gap ranks 41,954th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pennington Gap
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.
Pennington Gap's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pennington Gap ranks high
- Cheap childcare$512 a month, better than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 79% of towns
Where Pennington Gap ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$30,593 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pennington Gap
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pennington Gap home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $30,593, 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 Pennington Gap's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pennington Gap
Pennington Gap 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 Pennington Gap.
Who works in Pennington Gap, and how
Work in Pennington Gap centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Pennington Gap
Pennington Gap has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pennington Gap and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pennington Gap, month by month
Pennington Gap sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Pennington Gap
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 157 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pennington Gap
Schools across Pennington Gap average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- St. Charles ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Elk Knob ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pennington MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Lee HighA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pennington Gap school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pennington Gap 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 Pennington Gap against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pennington Gap
Is Pennington Gap a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pennington Gap ranks 41,954th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pennington Gap expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $91,703. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $30,593 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Pennington Gap safe?
Pennington Gap is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $478 per resident a year.
Compare Pennington Gap with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pennington Gap. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pennington Gap 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.
Pennington Gap detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pennington Gap: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pennington Gap: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pennington Gap: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pennington Gap: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pennington Gap 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.