Best PlacesRawlings, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rawlings, 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.
Rawlings ranks 37,645th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rawlings
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.
Rawlings' strengths and weaknesses
Where Rawlings ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 84% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
Where Rawlings ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rawlings
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rawlings home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $55,903, 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 Rawlings' effective rate of 0.30%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rawlings
Rawlings 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 Rawlings.
Who works in Rawlings, and how
Work in Rawlings centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Rawlings
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rawlings.
What the weather is like in Rawlings, month by month
Rawlings sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 51, 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 | 51° | 39° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 45° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Rawlings
Richmond International sits about 47 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Rawlings
Schools across Rawlings average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sunnyside ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Blackstone PrimaryB− · 43% proficient
- Red Oak-sturgeon ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dinwiddie County MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Nottoway MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- James S. Russell MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Dinwiddie County HighA− · 59% proficient
- Nottoway HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Brunswick HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rawlings school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rawlings 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 Rawlings against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rawlings
Is Rawlings a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rawlings ranks 37,645th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, few empty homes, and a strong job market, and lowest on crime and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rawlings expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $264,569. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $55,903 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Rawlings safe?
Rawlings is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $710 per resident a year.
Compare Rawlings with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rawlings. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rawlings 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.
Rawlings detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rawlings: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rawlings: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rawlings: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rawlings: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rawlings 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.