Best PlacesRocky Mount, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rocky Mount, 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.
Rocky Mount ranks 19,727th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rocky Mount
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.
Rocky Mount's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rocky Mount ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of towns
Where Rocky Mount ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 22% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rocky Mount
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rocky Mount home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,882, 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 Rocky Mount's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Rocky Mount
Rocky Mount 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 Rocky Mount.
Who works in Rocky Mount, and how
Work in Rocky Mount centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Rocky Mount
Rocky Mount has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Rocky Mount and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rocky Mount, month by month
Rocky Mount sees roughly 68 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 Rocky Mount
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rocky Mount
Schools across Rocky Mount average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Callaway ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Snow Creek ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Burnt Chimney ElementaryA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Benjamin Franklin MiddleA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Franklin County HighA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rocky Mount school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rocky Mount 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 Rocky Mount against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rocky Mount
Is Rocky Mount a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rocky Mount ranks 19,727th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, good schools, and transit, and lowest on state finances and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rocky Mount expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $199,824. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $65,882 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Rocky Mount safe?
Rocky Mount is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $428 per resident a year.
Compare Rocky Mount with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rocky Mount. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rocky Mount 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.
Rocky Mount detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rocky Mount: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rocky Mount: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rocky Mount: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rocky Mount: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rocky Mount 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.