Best PlacesRed Oak, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Red Oak, 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.
Red Oak ranks 39,542nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Low incomes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Red Oak
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.
Red Oak's strengths and weaknesses
Where Red Oak ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap childcare$593 a month, better than 79% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 76% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 76% of towns
- QuietBetter than 73% of towns
Where Red Oak ranks low
- Household income$40,621 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 13% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Red Oak
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Red Oak home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,621, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Red Oak's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Red Oak
Red Oak 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 Red Oak.
Who works in Red Oak, and how
Work in Red Oak 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 94%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Red Oak
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Red Oak.
What the weather is like in Red Oak, month by month
Red Oak sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Red Oak
The nearest airport, Lynchburg Regional/Preston Glenn Field, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 64 miles away.
The best schools in and around Red Oak
Schools across Red Oak average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clarksville ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Bacon District ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Chase City ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Halifax County MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Randolph-henry HighA− · 62% proficient
- Halifax County HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Red Oak school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Red Oak 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 Red Oak against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Red Oak
Is Red Oak a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Red Oak ranks 39,542nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, affordable childcare, and clean air, and lowest on low incomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Red Oak expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $124,771. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $40,621 median income, cost of living beats 5% of towns.
Is Red Oak safe?
Red Oak is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $511 per resident a year.
Compare Red Oak with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Red Oak. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Red Oak 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.
Red Oak detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Red Oak: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Red Oak: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Red Oak: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Red Oak: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Red Oak 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.