Best PlacesSomerville, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Somerville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Somerville ranks 2,644th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Somerville
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.
Somerville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Somerville ranks high
- Household income$155,386 median, better than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
Where Somerville ranks low
- Short commute40.9 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap childcare$957 a month, better than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Somerville
A household needs to earn about $150,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Somerville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $155,386, 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 Somerville's effective rate of 0.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Somerville
Somerville runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Somerville.
Who works in Somerville, and how
Work in Somerville centers on public administration and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Somerville
The coast is about 30 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Somerville, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Somerville, month by month
Somerville sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 45° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Somerville
Washington Dulles International sits about 30 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 13.9 million passengers in 2025, with 200 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Somerville
Schools across Somerville average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Margaret Brent ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Mary Walter ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- H.m. Pearson ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rodney E. Thompson MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Andrew G. Wright MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Cedar Lee MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Mountain View HighA · 77% proficient
- Liberty HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Somerville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Somerville 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 Somerville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Somerville
Is Somerville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Somerville ranks 2,644th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, big-city access, and what local pay buys, and lowest on long commutes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Somerville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $587,226. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $155,386 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Somerville safe?
Yes, Somerville is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $204 per resident a year.
Compare Somerville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Somerville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Somerville 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.
Somerville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Somerville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Somerville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Somerville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Somerville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Somerville 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.