Best PlacesPortsmouth City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Portsmouth City, 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.
Portsmouth City ranks 1,974th 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 Portsmouth 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.
Portsmouth City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Portsmouth City ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of counties
- TransitBetter than 94% of counties
- BikingBetter than 94% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of counties
Where Portsmouth City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Portsmouth City
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Portsmouth City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $64,715; 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 Portsmouth City's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Portsmouth City
Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth City.
Who works in Portsmouth City, and how
Work in Portsmouth City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Portsmouth City
Portsmouth City has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 81% of counties. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Portsmouth City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Portsmouth City growing, and who is moving in?
Portsmouth City has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Virginia Beach, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Portsmouth City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Portsmouth City, month by month
Portsmouth City sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, 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 | 54° | 40° | 28° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 67° |
| October | 75° | 61° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Portsmouth City
The nearest airport, Norfolk International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Portsmouth City
Schools across Portsmouth City average a B, better than 76% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Churchland ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Victory ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Churchland Primary & IntermediateB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Churchland MiddleA · 61% proficient
- William E. Waters MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Cradock MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Churchland HighA− · 66% proficient
- Manor HighB+ · 58% proficient
- I.c. Norcom HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Portsmouth City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Portsmouth City suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Portsmouth City
Is Portsmouth City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Portsmouth City ranks 1,974th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, transit, and biking, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Portsmouth City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $248,822. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $64,715 median income, cost of living beats 44% of counties.
Is Portsmouth City safe?
Portsmouth City is safer than 4% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $733 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Portsmouth City?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 28. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of counties.
Is Portsmouth City good for families?
Schools beat 76% of counties, crime safety beats 4%, and childcare runs $911 a month.
Compare Portsmouth City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Portsmouth City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Portsmouth 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.
Portsmouth City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Portsmouth City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Portsmouth City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Portsmouth City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Portsmouth City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Portsmouth 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.