Best PlacesSandston, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sandston, 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.
Sandston ranks 19,977th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sandston
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.
Sandston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sandston ranks high
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
Where Sandston ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,029 a month, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sandston
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sandston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,558, 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 Sandston's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sandston
Sandston runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sandston.
Who works in Sandston, and how
Work in Sandston centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Sandston
The coast is about 49 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Sandston, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sandston, month by month
Sandston sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 52, 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 | 52° | 39° | 28° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 46° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Sandston
Richmond International sits about 2 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Sandston
Schools across Sandston average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- George W. Watkins ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Cold Harbor ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Seven Pines ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bell Creek MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
- New Kent MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Elko MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Mechanicsville HighA · 79% proficient
- New Kent HighA · 76% proficient
- Varina HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sandston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sandston 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 Sandston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sandston
Is Sandston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sandston ranks 19,977th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, few empty homes, and biking, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sandston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $285,114. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $80,558 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Sandston safe?
Sandston is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $408 per resident a year.
Compare Sandston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sandston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sandston 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.
Sandston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sandston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sandston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sandston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sandston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sandston 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.