Best PlacesRondo, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rondo, 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.
Rondo ranks 32,819th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rondo
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.
Rondo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rondo ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of towns
- Cheap childcare$587 a month, better than 80% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 72% of towns
- QuietBetter than 72% of towns
Where Rondo ranks low
- Household income$41,786 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rondo
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rondo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $41,786, 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 Rondo's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rondo
Rondo 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 Rondo.
Who works in Rondo, and how
Work in Rondo centers on health care & social and other services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Rondo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rondo.
What the weather is like in Rondo, month by month
Rondo sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 39° | 27° |
| April | 75° | 59° | 45° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 75° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Rondo
The nearest airport, Lynchburg Regional/Preston Glenn Field, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rondo
Schools across Rondo average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Union Hall ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chatham MiddleA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Chatham HighA · 77% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rondo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rondo 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 Rondo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rondo
Is Rondo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rondo ranks 32,819th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and affordable childcare, and lowest on low incomes and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rondo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $115,095. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $41,786 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Rondo safe?
Rondo is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
Compare Rondo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rondo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rondo 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.
Rondo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rondo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rondo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rondo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rondo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rondo 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.