Best PlacesStaunton City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Staunton City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Staunton City ranks 386th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Staunton City
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.
Staunton City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Staunton City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of counties
Where Staunton City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 11% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of counties
- Cheap childcare$886 a month, better than only 30% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 33% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Staunton City
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Staunton City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,922, 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 Staunton City's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Staunton City
Staunton City's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Staunton City.
Who works in Staunton City, and how
Work in Staunton City centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Staunton City
Staunton City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of counties and more parkland per resident than 98% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Staunton City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Staunton City growing, and who is moving in?
Staunton City has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Staunton, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Staunton City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Staunton City, month by month
Staunton City sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Staunton City
The nearest airport, Shenandoah Valley Regional, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Staunton City
Schools across Staunton City average a B+, better than 84% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Thomas C. Mcswain ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Arthur R. Ware ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Bessie Weller ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shelburne MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Virginia School For The Deaf And Blind MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Staunton HighA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Staunton City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Staunton City 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 Staunton City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Staunton City suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Staunton City
Is Staunton City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Staunton City ranks 386th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, fast internet, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on noise and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Staunton City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $269,657. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $70,922 median income, cost of living beats 58% of counties.
Is Staunton City safe?
Yes, Staunton City is safer than 80% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Staunton City?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 24. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of counties.
Is Staunton City good for families?
Schools beat 84% of counties, crime safety beats 80%, and childcare runs $886 a month.
Compare Staunton City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Staunton City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Staunton City 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.
Staunton City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Staunton City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Staunton City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Staunton City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Staunton City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Staunton City 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.