Best PlacesRockfish, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rockfish, 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.
Rockfish ranks 33,837th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rockfish
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.
Rockfish's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rockfish ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 123 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Rockfish ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute35.6 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rockfish
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rockfish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $71,846; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Rockfish's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Rockfish
Rockfish'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 Rockfish.
Who works in Rockfish, and how
Work in Rockfish centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rockfish
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rockfish.
What the weather is like in Rockfish, month by month
Rockfish sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, 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 | 45° | 36° | 30° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 85° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 69° | 60° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Rockfish
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rockfish
Schools across Rockfish average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rockfish River ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nelson MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Nelson County HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rockfish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rockfish 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 Rockfish against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rockfish
Is Rockfish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rockfish ranks 33,837th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, heat safety, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on noise and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rockfish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $311,126. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $71,846 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Rockfish safe?
Rockfish is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $506 per resident a year.
Compare Rockfish with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rockfish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rockfish 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.
Rockfish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rockfish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rockfish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rockfish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rockfish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rockfish 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.