Best PlacesTriangle, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Triangle, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Triangle ranks 8,694th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Triangle
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.
Triangle's strengths and weaknesses
Where Triangle ranks high
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of towns
Where Triangle ranks low
- Short commute38.9 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,333 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Triangle
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Triangle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $103,598; 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 Triangle's effective rate of 1.09%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Triangle
Triangle runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Triangle.
Who works in Triangle, and how
Work in Triangle centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Triangle
Triangle has more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. The coast is about 11 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Triangle and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Triangle, month by month
Triangle sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 73° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Triangle
Ronald Reagan Washington Ntl sits about 26 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.0 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Triangle
Schools across Triangle average an A−, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ashland ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
- John F. Pattie Sr. ElementaryA · 62% proficient
- Kate Waller Barrett ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Louise A. Benton MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- Graham Park MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- H.h. Poole MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Forest Park HighA · 71% proficient
- North Stafford HighA · 70% proficient
- Potomac HighA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Triangle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Triangle 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 Triangle against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Triangle
Is Triangle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Triangle ranks 8,694th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Triangle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $427,872. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $103,598 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Triangle safe?
Yes, Triangle is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $262 per resident a year.
Compare Triangle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Triangle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Triangle 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.
Triangle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Triangle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Triangle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Triangle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Triangle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Triangle 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.