Best PlacesShawsville, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shawsville, 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.
Shawsville ranks 21,241st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on heat safety, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Shawsville
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.
Shawsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shawsville ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
- Short commute21.2 minutes each way, better than 83% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Shawsville ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 39% of towns
- Household income$67,048 median, better than only 41% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 77 pleasant days a year, better than only 41% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shawsville
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shawsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,048, 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 Shawsville's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Shawsville
Shawsville runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shawsville.
Who works in Shawsville, and how
Work in Shawsville centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Shawsville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shawsville.
What the weather is like in Shawsville, month by month
Shawsville sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Shawsville
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 121 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shawsville
Schools across Shawsville average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Margaret Beeks ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Falling Branch ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Check ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Blacksburg MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Christiansburg MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- Shawsville MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Blacksburg HighA+ · 84% proficient
- Christiansburg HighA · 73% proficient
- Eastern Montgomery HighA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shawsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shawsville 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 Shawsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shawsville
Is Shawsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shawsville ranks 21,241st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, cheap car insurance, and tree cover, and lowest on state finances and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shawsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $150,877. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $67,048 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Shawsville safe?
Shawsville is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $335 per resident a year.
Compare Shawsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shawsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shawsville 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.
Shawsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shawsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shawsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shawsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shawsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shawsville 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.