Best PlacesSuffolk City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Suffolk 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.
Suffolk City ranks 564th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Suffolk 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.
Suffolk City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Suffolk City ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of counties
- Household income$99,276 median, better than 92% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 86% of counties
Where Suffolk City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 12% of counties
- Short commute30.2 minutes each way, better than only 15% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Suffolk City
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Suffolk City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $99,276, 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 Suffolk City's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Suffolk City
Suffolk 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 Suffolk City.
Who works in Suffolk City, and how
Work in Suffolk City centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Suffolk City
Suffolk City has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 26 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Suffolk City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Suffolk City growing, and who is moving in?
Suffolk City has grown about 19% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Virginia Beach, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Suffolk City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Suffolk City, month by month
Suffolk City sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, 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 | 54° | 41° | 30° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Suffolk City
The nearest airport, Norfolk International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Suffolk City
Schools across Suffolk City average a B+, better than 86% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Northern Shores ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- Florence Bowser ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Oakland ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- John Yeates MiddleA+ · 71% proficient
- Colonel Fred Cherry MiddleA · 63% proficient
- Forest Glen MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Nansemond River HighA− · 66% proficient
- King's Fork HighA− · 59% proficient
- Lakeland HighB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Suffolk City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Suffolk 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 Suffolk City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Suffolk City suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Suffolk City
Is Suffolk City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Suffolk City ranks 564th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and few empty homes, and lowest on noise and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Suffolk City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $347,635. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $99,276 median income, cost of living beats 96% of counties.
Is Suffolk City safe?
Suffolk City is safer than 24% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $462 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Suffolk City?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 30. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of counties.
Is Suffolk City good for families?
Schools beat 86% of counties, crime safety beats 24%, and childcare runs $837 a month.
Compare Suffolk City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Suffolk City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Suffolk 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.
Suffolk City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Suffolk City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Suffolk City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Suffolk City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Suffolk City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Suffolk 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.