Best PlacesSandy Level, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sandy Level, 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.
Sandy Level ranks 36,675th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Sandy Level
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.
Sandy Level's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sandy Level ranks high
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 83% of towns
- QuietBetter than 81% of towns
Where Sandy Level ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Household income$47,370 median, better than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sandy Level
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sandy Level home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,370, 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 Sandy Level's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sandy Level
Sandy Level runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sandy Level.
Who works in Sandy Level, and how
Work in Sandy Level centers on retail trade and other services. 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 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Sandy Level
Sandy Level has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sandy Level and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sandy Level, month by month
Sandy Level sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Sandy Level
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 77 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sandy Level
Schools across Sandy Level average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gretna ElementaryA+ · 72% proficient
- Dudley ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Axton ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Benjamin Franklin MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Laurel Park MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Gretna MiddleA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Franklin County HighA · 76% proficient
- Magna Vista HighA− · 63% proficient
- Gretna HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sandy Level school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sandy Level 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 Sandy Level against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sandy Level
Is Sandy Level a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sandy Level ranks 36,675th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on education levels and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sandy Level expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $123,061. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $47,370 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Sandy Level safe?
Sandy Level is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $324 per resident a year.
Compare Sandy Level with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sandy Level. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sandy Level 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.
Sandy Level detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sandy Level: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sandy Level: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sandy Level: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sandy Level: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sandy Level 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.