Best PlacesRapidan, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rapidan, 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.
Rapidan ranks 20,478th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on transit, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rapidan
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.
Rapidan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rapidan ranks high
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 80% of towns
Where Rapidan ranks low
- Short commute34.8 minutes each way, better than only 14% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 18% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rapidan
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rapidan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $80,740, 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 Rapidan's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rapidan
Rapidan runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rapidan.
Who works in Rapidan, and how
Work in Rapidan centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rapidan
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rapidan.
What the weather is like in Rapidan, month by month
Rapidan sees roughly 74 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 Rapidan
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rapidan
Schools across Rapidan average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Orange ElementaryA− · 56% proficient
- Waverly Yowell ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Pearl Sample ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Locust Grove MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Floyd T. Binns MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Prospect Heights MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Eastern View HighA · 70% proficient
- Orange County HighA · 67% proficient
- Madison County HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rapidan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rapidan 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 Rapidan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rapidan
Is Rapidan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rapidan ranks 20,478th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and low property taxes, and lowest on long commutes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rapidan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $393,766. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $80,740 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Rapidan safe?
Yes, Rapidan is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $246 per resident a year.
Compare Rapidan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rapidan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rapidan 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.
Rapidan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rapidan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rapidan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rapidan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rapidan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rapidan 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.