Best PlacesRadiant, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Radiant, 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.
Radiant ranks 6,894th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Radiant
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.
Radiant's strengths and weaknesses
Where Radiant ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
Where Radiant ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Short commute33.1 minutes each way, better than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,031 a month, better than only 23% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Radiant
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Radiant home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $84,935; 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 Radiant's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Radiant
Radiant runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Radiant.
Who works in Radiant, and how
Work in Radiant centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Radiant
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Radiant.
What the weather is like in Radiant, month by month
Radiant sees roughly 85 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 Radiant
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Radiant
Schools across Radiant average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waverly Yowell ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- William H. Wetsel MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Madison County HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Radiant school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Radiant 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 Radiant against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Radiant
Is Radiant a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Radiant ranks 6,894th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, civic engagement, and low property taxes, and lowest on state finances and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Radiant expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $351,899. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $84,935 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Radiant safe?
Yes, Radiant is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $149 per resident a year.
Compare Radiant with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Radiant. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Radiant 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.
Radiant detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Radiant: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Radiant: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Radiant: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Radiant: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Radiant 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.