Best PlacesRoanoke City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Roanoke City, 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.
Roanoke City ranks 1,327th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and an overheated housing market. It does better on biking, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Roanoke City
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.
Roanoke City's strengths and weaknesses
Roanoke City lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Biking is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Walkability and transit follow.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. An overheated housing market and crime also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Roanoke City ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 97% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of counties
Where Roanoke City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Roanoke City
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Roanoke City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,004, 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 Roanoke City's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Roanoke City
Roanoke City'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 Roanoke City.
Who works in Roanoke City, and how
Work in Roanoke City 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 81%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Roanoke City
Roanoke City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of counties and more parkland per resident than 95% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Roanoke City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Roanoke City growing, and who is moving in?
Roanoke City has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Roanoke, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Roanoke City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Roanoke City, month by month
Roanoke City sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, 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 | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Roanoke City
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Roanoke City
Schools across Roanoke City average a B+, better than 81% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Grandin Court ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Crystal Spring ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
- Clearbrook ElementaryA · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hidden Valley MiddleA+ · 80% proficient
- Cave Spring MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- William Byrd MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Cave Spring HighA+ · 86% proficient
- William Byrd HighA · 78% proficient
- Northside HighA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Roanoke City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Roanoke City 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 Roanoke City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Roanoke City suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Roanoke City
Is Roanoke City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Roanoke City ranks 1,327th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and transit, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Roanoke City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,328. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $60,004 median income, cost of living beats 39% of counties.
Is Roanoke City safe?
Roanoke City is safer than 10% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $590 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Roanoke City?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 28. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of counties.
Is Roanoke City good for families?
Schools beat 81% of counties, crime safety beats 10%, and childcare runs $878 a month.
Is Roanoke City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 39% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 92% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Roanoke City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Roanoke City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Roanoke City 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.
Roanoke City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Roanoke City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Roanoke City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Roanoke City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Roanoke City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Roanoke City 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.