Best PlacesStones Mill, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stones Mill, 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.
Stones Mill ranks 33,672nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stones Mill
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.
Stones Mill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stones Mill ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Stones Mill ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$32,899 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stones Mill
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stones Mill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $32,899, 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 Stones Mill's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Stones Mill
Stones Mill 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 Stones Mill.
Who works in Stones Mill, and how
Work in Stones Mill centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Stones Mill
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Stones Mill.
What the weather is like in Stones Mill, month by month
Stones Mill sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 40° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 69° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Stones Mill
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stones Mill
Schools across Stones Mill average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sheffey ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Spiller ElementaryA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Scott Memorial MiddleA+ · 77% proficient
- Fort Chiswell MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- George Wythe HighA · 73% proficient
- Fort Chiswell HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stones Mill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stones Mill 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 Stones Mill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stones Mill
Is Stones Mill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stones Mill ranks 33,672nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, good schools, and tree cover, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stones Mill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $106,251. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $32,899 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Stones Mill safe?
Stones Mill is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
Compare Stones Mill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stones Mill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stones Mill 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.
Stones Mill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stones Mill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stones Mill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stones Mill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stones Mill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stones Mill 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.