Best PlacesRaccoon Ford, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Raccoon Ford, 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.
Raccoon Ford ranks 15,930th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on big-city access, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Raccoon Ford
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.
Raccoon Ford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Raccoon Ford ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 83% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 80% of towns
Where Raccoon Ford ranks low
- Short commute35.4 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Raccoon Ford
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Raccoon Ford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,959, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Raccoon Ford's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Raccoon Ford
Raccoon Ford 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 Raccoon Ford.
Who works in Raccoon Ford, and how
Work in Raccoon Ford centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Raccoon Ford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Raccoon Ford.
What the weather is like in Raccoon Ford, month by month
Raccoon Ford sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Raccoon Ford
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 48 miles away.
The best schools in and around Raccoon Ford
Schools across Raccoon Ford average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pearl Sample ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Locust Grove MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Floyd T. Binns MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Eastern View HighA · 70% proficient
- Orange County HighA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Raccoon Ford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Raccoon Ford 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 Raccoon Ford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Raccoon Ford
Is Raccoon Ford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Raccoon Ford ranks 15,930th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, cheap car insurance, and tree cover, and lowest on long commutes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Raccoon Ford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $405,486. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $83,959 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Raccoon Ford safe?
Raccoon Ford is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $328 per resident a year.
Compare Raccoon Ford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Raccoon Ford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Raccoon Ford 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.
Raccoon Ford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Raccoon Ford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Raccoon Ford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Raccoon Ford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Raccoon Ford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Raccoon Ford 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.