Best PlacesStephens City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stephens City, 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.
Stephens City ranks 1,800th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stephens 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.
Stephens City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stephens City ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- Household income$111,762 median, better than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
Where Stephens City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Short commute32.4 minutes each way, better than only 22% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 39% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 43% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stephens City
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stephens City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $111,762, 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 Stephens City's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Stephens City
Stephens City's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Stephens City.
Who works in Stephens City, and how
Work in Stephens City centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Stephens City
Stephens City has more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Stephens City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Stephens City, month by month
Stephens City sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Stephens City
Washington Dulles International sits about 40 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 Stephens City
Schools across Stephens City average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Armel ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- A.s. Rhodes ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Middletown ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Admiral Richard E. Byrd MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Robert E. Aylor MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Warren County MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Sherando HighA · 77% proficient
- Millbrook HighA · 74% proficient
- Skyline HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stephens City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stephens 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 Stephens City against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Stephens City suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 14% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 58% of towns and health care access beats 69%.
Common questions about living in Stephens City
Is Stephens City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stephens City ranks 1,800th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, cheap car insurance, and high incomes, 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 Stephens City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $379,489. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $111,762 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Stephens City safe?
Yes, Stephens City is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $139 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Stephens City?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 26. That works out to about 88 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of towns.
Is Stephens City good for families?
Schools beat 87% of towns, crime safety beats 98%, and childcare runs $827 a month.
Compare Stephens City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stephens City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stephens 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.
Stephens City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stephens City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stephens City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stephens City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stephens City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stephens 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.
- 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.