Best PlacesSparta, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sparta, 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.
Sparta ranks 23,653rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on big-city access, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sparta
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.
Sparta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sparta ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 77% of towns
Where Sparta ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 16% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Short commute33.8 minutes each way, better than only 17% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sparta
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sparta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,167, 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 Sparta's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Sparta
Sparta 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 Sparta.
Who works in Sparta, and how
Work in Sparta centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Sparta
The coast is about 45 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Sparta, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sparta, month by month
Sparta sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, 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 | 48° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Sparta
Richmond International sits about 34 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Sparta
Schools across Sparta average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bowling Green ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Caroline MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Caroline HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sparta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sparta 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 Sparta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sparta
Is Sparta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sparta ranks 23,653rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, quiet, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on cell coverage and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sparta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $281,300. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $80,167 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Sparta safe?
Sparta is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $370 per resident a year.
Compare Sparta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sparta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sparta 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.
Sparta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sparta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sparta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sparta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sparta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sparta 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.