Best PlacesSelden, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Selden, 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.
Selden ranks 20,614th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Selden
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.
Selden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Selden ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 85% of towns
Where Selden ranks low
- Short commute41.9 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Selden
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Selden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $88,125, 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 Selden's effective rate of 0.53%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Selden
Selden 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 Selden.
Who works in Selden, and how
Work in Selden centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Selden
The coast is about 13 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Selden, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Selden, month by month
Selden sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 40° | 30° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Selden
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 48 miles away.
The best schools in and around Selden
Schools across Selden average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Botetourt ElementaryA · 66% proficient
- Abingdon ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Peasley MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Page MiddleA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Gloucester HighA · 69% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Selden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Selden 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 Selden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Selden
Is Selden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Selden ranks 20,614th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, cheap car insurance, and good schools, 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 Selden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $412,400. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $88,125 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Selden safe?
Selden is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $337 per resident a year.
Compare Selden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Selden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Selden 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.
Selden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Selden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Selden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Selden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Selden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Selden 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.