Best PlacesRochelle, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rochelle, 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.
Rochelle ranks 8,257th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rochelle
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.
Rochelle's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rochelle ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 81% of towns
Where Rochelle ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,031 a month, better than only 23% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 33% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 39% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 77 pleasant days a year, better than only 42% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rochelle
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rochelle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,621, 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 Rochelle's effective rate of 0.46%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rochelle
Rochelle 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 Rochelle.
Who works in Rochelle, and how
Work in Rochelle 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 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Rochelle
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rochelle.
What the weather is like in Rochelle, month by month
Rochelle sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 50, 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 | 50° | 39° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 46° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 75° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Rochelle
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 63 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rochelle
Schools across Rochelle average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waverly Yowell ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- William H. Wetsel MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Madison County HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rochelle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rochelle 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 Rochelle against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rochelle
Is Rochelle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rochelle ranks 8,257th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, and lowest on state finances and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rochelle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $346,065. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $86,621 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Rochelle safe?
Yes, Rochelle is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $175 per resident a year.
Compare Rochelle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rochelle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rochelle 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.
Rochelle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rochelle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rochelle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rochelle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rochelle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rochelle 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.