Best PlacesRichmond, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Richmond metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Jim, CC BY-SA 2.0, via commons
Richmond ranks 81st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $98,224, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are noise, internet speeds, and state finances.
The best neighborhoods in the Richmond metro
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.
The best areas in Richmond
The towns and districts of the Richmond metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Tuckahoe, Glen Allen & Short Pump
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Chesterfield
Tree cover is thicker, though biking is worse.
Midlothian & Bon Air
Crime runs lower and schools score higher.
Mechanicsville
It is quieter and prices have run up less.
Lakeside, Ashland & Chamberlayne
Scores close to Mechanicsville, except that streets are more walkable here.
Chester, Petersburg & Meadowbrook
Homes cost less and more households have young kids.
Downtown Richmond
Transit reaches more jobs, though fewer residents vote.
Montrose Heights, Sandston & Highland Springs
Health outcomes score lower.
Hopewell, Colonial Heights & Prince George
More homes sit empty and health care is harder to reach.
Richmond shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Richmond's strengths and weaknesses
Richmond ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys, good schools, and high incomes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, internet speeds, and state finances hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Richmond ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of metro areas
- School gradeB+, better than 86% of metro areas
- Household income$98,224 median, better than 85% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of metro areas
Where Richmond ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of metro areas
- Short commute25.4 minutes each way, better than only 25% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Richmond
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Richmond home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,224, 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 Richmond's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 Richmond
Richmond's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Richmond.
Who works in Richmond, and how
Work in Richmond centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Richmond
Richmond has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 60 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Richmond and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Richmond growing, and who is moving in?
Richmond has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Washington, DC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Richmond go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Richmond, month by month
Richmond sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 52, 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 | 52° | 39° | 28° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 46° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Richmond
Richmond International sits about 9 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 Richmond
Schools across Richmond average a B+, better than 86% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Greenfield ElementaryA+ · 88% proficient
- Gayton ElementaryA+ · 88% proficient
- Rural Point ElementaryA+ · 87% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chickahominy MiddleA+ · 85% proficient
- Oak Knoll MiddleA+ · 84% proficient
- Midlothian MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- Atlee HighA+ · 88% proficient
- Richmond Community HighA+ · 87% proficient
- Louisa County HighA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Richmond school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Richmond 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 Richmond against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Richmond suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of metro areas and 19% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Richmond
Is Richmond a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Richmond ranks 81st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on what local pay buys, good schools, and high incomes, and lowest on noise and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Richmond expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $372,054. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $98,224 median income, cost of living beats 96% of metro areas.
Is Richmond safe?
Richmond is safer than 33% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $398 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Richmond?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 28. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Richmond?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Tuckahoe, Glen Allen & Short Pump, Chesterfield, and Midlothian & Bon Air. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Richmond good for families?
Schools beat 86% of metro areas, crime safety beats 33%, and childcare runs $1,027 a month.
Is Richmond good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 12% of metro areas. About 19% of workers already work from home.
Compare Richmond with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Richmond. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Richmond 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.
Richmond detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Richmond: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Richmond: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Richmond: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Richmond: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Richmond 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.