Best PlacesRoman, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Roman, 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.
Roman ranks 5,387th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Roman
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.
Roman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Roman ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 91% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Roman ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Roman
A household needs to earn about $103,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Roman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,392, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Roman's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Roman
Roman runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Roman.
Who works in Roman, and how
Work in Roman centers on transportation & warehousing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Roman
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Roman.
What the weather is like in Roman, month by month
Roman sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Roman
The nearest airport, Shenandoah Valley Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 95 miles away.
The best schools in and around Roman
Schools across Roman average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Edward G. Clymore ElementaryA · 62% proficient
- North River ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- S. Gordon Stewart MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Defiance HighA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Roman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Roman 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 Roman against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Roman
Is Roman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Roman ranks 5,387th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, low crime, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on internet speeds and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Roman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $414,300. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $89,392 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Roman safe?
Yes, Roman is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $157 per resident a year.
Compare Roman with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Roman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Roman 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.
Roman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Roman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Roman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Roman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Roman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Roman 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.