Best PlacesPico, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pico, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pico ranks 16,760th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pico
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.
Pico's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pico ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Pico ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 21% of towns
- Short commute32.4 minutes each way, better than only 22% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pico
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pico home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,374, 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 Pico's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pico
Pico 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 Pico.
Who works in Pico, and how
Work in Pico centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Pico
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pico.
What the weather is like in Pico, month by month
Pico sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Pico
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pico
Schools across Pico average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Buchanan ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Montvale ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Academy MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Liberty MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- James River HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Liberty HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pico school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pico 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 Pico against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pico
Is Pico a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pico ranks 16,760th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, good schools, and low disaster risk, and lowest on state finances and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pico expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $265,953. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $67,374 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Pico safe?
Yes, Pico is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $209 per resident a year.
Compare Pico with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pico. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pico 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.
Pico detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pico: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pico: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pico: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pico: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pico 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.