Best PlacesThessalia, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thessalia, 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.
Thessalia ranks 23,833rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Thessalia
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.
Thessalia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thessalia ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 85% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Thessalia ranks low
- Short commute40.8 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Thessalia
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thessalia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,338, 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 Thessalia's effective rate of 0.48%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Thessalia
Thessalia runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Thessalia.
Who works in Thessalia, and how
Work in Thessalia centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Thessalia
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Thessalia.
What the weather is like in Thessalia, month by month
Thessalia sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Thessalia
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Thessalia
Schools across Thessalia average an A−, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Narrows Elementary/middleA− · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pulaski County MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Narrows HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thessalia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thessalia 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 Thessalia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Thessalia
Is Thessalia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thessalia ranks 23,833rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, a strong job market, and cheap car insurance, 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 Thessalia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,600. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $62,338 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Thessalia safe?
Thessalia is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $403 per resident a year.
Compare Thessalia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thessalia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thessalia 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.
Thessalia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thessalia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thessalia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thessalia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thessalia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thessalia 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.