Best PlacesTatum, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tatum, 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.
Tatum ranks 14,165th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Tatum
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.
Tatum's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tatum ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Household income$100,903 median, better than 85% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 85% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 82% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
Where Tatum ranks low
- Short commute49.0 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tatum
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tatum home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,903, 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 Tatum'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 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 Tatum
Tatum runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tatum.
Who works in Tatum, and how
Work in Tatum centers on retail trade and construction. 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 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Tatum
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tatum.
What the weather is like in Tatum, month by month
Tatum sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Tatum
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tatum
Schools across Tatum average an A−, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Livingston ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Locust Grove MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Post Oak MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Orange County HighA · 67% proficient
- Spotsylvania HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tatum school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tatum 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 Tatum against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tatum
Is Tatum a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tatum ranks 14,165th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, high incomes, and a strong job market, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tatum expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $368,841. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $100,903 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Tatum safe?
Yes, Tatum is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $242 per resident a year.
Compare Tatum with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tatum. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tatum 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.
Tatum detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tatum: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tatum: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tatum: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tatum: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tatum 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.