Best PlacesRustic, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rustic, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rustic ranks 22,667th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rustic
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.
Rustic's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rustic ranks high
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$100,649 median, better than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
Where Rustic ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
- Short commute37.3 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rustic
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rustic home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,649, 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 Rustic's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Rustic
Rustic runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rustic.
Who works in Rustic, and how
Work in Rustic centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Rustic
The coast is about 33 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Rustic, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rustic, month by month
Rustic sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 76° | 65° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Rustic
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 27 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rustic
Schools across Rustic average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Matoaka ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- J. Blaine Blayton ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Charles City County ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lois Hornsby MiddleA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Jamestown HighA · 79% proficient
- Lafayette HighA · 73% proficient
- Charles City County HighB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rustic school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rustic 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 Rustic against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rustic
Is Rustic a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rustic ranks 22,667th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rustic expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $300,563. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $100,649 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Rustic safe?
Rustic is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $544 per resident a year.
Compare Rustic with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rustic. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rustic 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.
Rustic detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rustic: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rustic: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rustic: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rustic: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rustic 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.