Best PlacesSt. Clair, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Clair, 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.
St. Clair ranks 21,522nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in St. Clair
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.
St. Clair's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Clair ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
Where St. Clair ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 24% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 27% of towns
- Household income$61,820 median, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Clair
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Clair home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,820, 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 St. Clair's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in St. Clair
St. Clair 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 St. Clair.
Who works in St. Clair, and how
Work in St. Clair centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in St. Clair
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across St. Clair.
What the weather is like in St. Clair, month by month
St. Clair sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of St. Clair
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 141 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Clair
Schools across St. Clair average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bland County ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Abb's Valley-boissevain ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Graham MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Graham HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Bland County HighA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Clair school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Clair 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 St. Clair against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Clair
Is St. Clair a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Clair ranks 21,522nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, tree cover, and good schools, 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 St. Clair expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $164,890. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $61,820 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is St. Clair safe?
St. Clair is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $370 per resident a year.
Compare St. Clair with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Clair. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Clair 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.
St. Clair detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Clair: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Clair: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Clair: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Clair: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Clair 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.