Best PlacesShipman, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shipman, 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.
Shipman ranks 34,098th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shipman
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.
Shipman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shipman ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 123 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Shipman ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute37.5 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shipman
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shipman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,103, 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 Shipman's effective rate of 0.51%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shipman
Shipman's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shipman.
Who works in Shipman, and how
Work in Shipman centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Shipman
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shipman.
What the weather is like in Shipman, month by month
Shipman sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 30° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 85° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 69° | 60° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Shipman
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shipman
Schools across Shipman average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rockfish River ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- Tye River ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nelson MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Nelson County HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shipman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shipman 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 Shipman against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shipman
Is Shipman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shipman ranks 34,098th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, heat safety, and the weather, and lowest on noise and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shipman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $290,286. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $78,103 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Shipman safe?
Shipman is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $507 per resident a year.
Compare Shipman with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shipman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shipman 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.
Shipman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shipman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shipman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shipman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shipman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shipman 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.