Best PlacesSimpkins, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Simpkins, 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.
Simpkins ranks 48,060th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Simpkins
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.
Simpkins' strengths and weaknesses
Where Simpkins ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 122 pleasant days a year, better than 81% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 77% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 72% of towns
Where Simpkins ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute44.1 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,394 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Simpkins
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Simpkins home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $36,394, 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 Simpkins' effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Simpkins
Simpkins runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Simpkins.
Who works in Simpkins, and how
Work in Simpkins centers on transportation & warehousing and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Simpkins
The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Simpkins, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Simpkins, month by month
Simpkins sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 40° | 33° |
| April | 67° | 58° | 50° |
| July | 87° | 79° | 73° |
| October | 71° | 63° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Simpkins
The nearest airport, Norfolk International, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 77 miles away.
The best schools in and around Simpkins
Schools across Simpkins average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kiptopeke ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northampton MiddleB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Northampton HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Simpkins school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Simpkins 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 Simpkins against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Simpkins
Is Simpkins a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Simpkins ranks 48,060th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, cell coverage, and the weather, and lowest on a weak job market and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Simpkins expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $120,800. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $36,394 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Simpkins safe?
Simpkins is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $607 per resident a year.
Compare Simpkins with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Simpkins. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Simpkins 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.
Simpkins detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Simpkins: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Simpkins: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Simpkins: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Simpkins: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Simpkins 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.