Best PlacesRushmere, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rushmere, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rushmere ranks 17,464th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on good schools.
The best neighborhoods in Rushmere
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.
Rushmere's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rushmere ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
Where Rushmere ranks low
- Short commute36.7 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rushmere
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rushmere home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,938, 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 Rushmere's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Rushmere
Rushmere 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 Rushmere.
Who works in Rushmere, and how
Work in Rushmere centers on construction and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Rushmere
The coast is about 38 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Rushmere, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rushmere, month by month
Rushmere sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 41° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Rushmere
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rushmere
Schools across Rushmere average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hardy ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Surry ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westside ElementaryA · 61% proficient
- Luther P. Jackson MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Surry County HighA · 78% proficient
- Smithfield HighA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rushmere school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rushmere 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 Rushmere against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rushmere
Is Rushmere a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rushmere ranks 17,464th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, civic engagement, and quiet, and lowest on long commutes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rushmere expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,955. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $86,938 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Rushmere safe?
Rushmere is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
Compare Rushmere with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rushmere. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rushmere 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.
Rushmere detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rushmere: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rushmere: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rushmere: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rushmere: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rushmere 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.