Best PlacesTimber Ridge, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Timber Ridge, 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.
Timber Ridge ranks 22,979th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Timber Ridge
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.
Timber Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Timber Ridge ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 86% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 82% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of towns
Where Timber Ridge ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 18% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Timber Ridge
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Timber Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $64,352; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Timber Ridge's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Timber Ridge
Timber Ridge 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 Timber Ridge.
Who works in Timber Ridge, and how
Work in Timber Ridge centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Timber Ridge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Timber Ridge.
What the weather is like in Timber Ridge, month by month
Timber Ridge sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 79° | 70° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Timber Ridge
The nearest airport, Shenandoah Valley Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Timber Ridge
Schools across Timber Ridge average a B+, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain View ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Central ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Fairfield ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maury River MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Rockbridge County HighA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Timber Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Timber Ridge 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 Timber Ridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Timber Ridge
Is Timber Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Timber Ridge ranks 22,979th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, heat safety, and an educated workforce, 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 Timber Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $255,689. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $64,352 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Timber Ridge safe?
Yes, Timber Ridge is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
Compare Timber Ridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Timber Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Timber Ridge 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.
Timber Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Timber Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Timber Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Timber Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Timber Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Timber Ridge 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.