Best PlacesPetersburg City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Petersburg City, 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.
Petersburg City ranks 2,977th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Petersburg City
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.
Petersburg City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Petersburg City ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of counties
- TransitBetter than 94% of counties
- BikingBetter than 90% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of counties
Where Petersburg City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of counties
- Household income$50,953 median, better than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Petersburg City
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Petersburg City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $50,953; 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 Petersburg City's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Petersburg City
Petersburg City runs younger 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 Petersburg City.
Who works in Petersburg City, and how
Work in Petersburg City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Petersburg City
Petersburg City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of counties and more parkland per resident than 66% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Petersburg City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Petersburg City growing, and who is moving in?
Petersburg City has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Richmond, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Petersburg City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Petersburg City, month by month
Petersburg City sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 38° | 27° |
| April | 74° | 58° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Petersburg City
Richmond International sits about 21 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Petersburg City
Schools across Petersburg City average a C, better than 35% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Middle Road ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Ettrick ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Walnut Hill ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- J.e.j. Moore MiddleA · 63% proficient
- Matoaca MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Vernon Johns MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Prince George HighA · 75% proficient
- Matoaca HighA− · 65% proficient
- Petersburg HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Petersburg City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Petersburg City 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 Petersburg City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Petersburg City suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Petersburg City
Is Petersburg City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Petersburg City ranks 2,977th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, transit, and biking, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Petersburg City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,204. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $50,953 median income, cost of living beats 12% of counties.
Is Petersburg City safe?
Petersburg City is safer than 1% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $946 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Petersburg City?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 27. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 7% of counties.
Is Petersburg City good for families?
Schools beat 35% of counties, crime safety beats 1%, and childcare runs $675 a month.
Compare Petersburg City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Petersburg City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Petersburg City 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.
Petersburg City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Petersburg City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Petersburg City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Petersburg City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Petersburg City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Petersburg City 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.