Best PlacesRice, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rice, 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.
Rice ranks 27,191st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Rice
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.
Rice's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rice ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap childcare$587 a month, better than 80% of towns
Where Rice ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 28% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 31% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rice
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rice home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,850, 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 Rice'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 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 Rice
Rice's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Rice.
Who works in Rice, and how
Work in Rice centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Rice
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rice.
What the weather is like in Rice, month by month
Rice sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 39° | 27° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 75° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Rice
The nearest airport, Lynchburg Regional/Preston Glenn Field, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 56 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rice
Schools across Rice average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Amelia County ElementaryB+ · 50% proficient
- Crewe PrimaryB · 45% proficient
- Prince Edward ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Amelia County MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Nottoway MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Prince Edward MiddleC+ · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Amelia County HighA− · 60% proficient
- Nottoway HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Prince Edward County HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rice school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rice 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 Rice against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rice
Is Rice a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rice ranks 27,191st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low property taxes, and clean air, and lowest on the weather and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rice expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $221,585. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $63,850 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Rice safe?
Rice is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $343 per resident a year.
Compare Rice with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rice. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rice 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.
Rice detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rice: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rice: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rice: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rice: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rice 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.