Best PlacesScrabble, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Scrabble, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Scrabble ranks 24,701st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Scrabble
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.
Scrabble's strengths and weaknesses
Where Scrabble ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
Where Scrabble ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute36.1 minutes each way, better than only 11% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Scrabble
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Scrabble home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $65,339, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Scrabble's effective rate of 0.52%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Scrabble
Scrabble 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 Scrabble.
Who works in Scrabble, and how
Work in Scrabble centers on construction and admin & support services. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Scrabble
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Scrabble.
What the weather is like in Scrabble, month by month
Scrabble sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 36° | 24° |
| April | 73° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 92° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Scrabble
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Scrabble
Schools across Scrabble average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rappahannock County ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Rappahannock County HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Scrabble school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Scrabble 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 Scrabble against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Scrabble
Is Scrabble a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Scrabble ranks 24,701st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, cheap car insurance, and big-city access, and lowest on internet speeds and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Scrabble expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $385,600. The overall cost of living runs about 26% above the national average. Set against a $65,339 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Scrabble safe?
Yes, Scrabble is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $266 per resident a year.
Compare Scrabble with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Scrabble. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Scrabble 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.
Scrabble detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Scrabble: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Scrabble: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Scrabble: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Scrabble: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Scrabble 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.