Best PlacesTunstall, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tunstall, 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.
Tunstall ranks 4,707th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Tunstall
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.
Tunstall's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tunstall ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$125,820 median, better than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
Where Tunstall ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Short commute34.3 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tunstall
A household needs to earn about $103,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tunstall home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $125,820, 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 Tunstall's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Tunstall
Tunstall runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tunstall.
Who works in Tunstall, and how
Work in Tunstall centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Tunstall
The coast is about 50 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Tunstall, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tunstall, month by month
Tunstall sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 39° | 28° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 46° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Tunstall
Richmond International sits about 13 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.5 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Tunstall
Schools across Tunstall average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Battlefield Park ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- George W. Watkins ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- New Kent ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bell Creek MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
- New Kent MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Hamilton Holmes MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Mechanicsville HighA · 79% proficient
- New Kent HighA · 76% proficient
- King William HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tunstall school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tunstall 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 Tunstall against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tunstall
Is Tunstall a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tunstall ranks 4,707th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and civic engagement, and lowest on cell coverage and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tunstall expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $403,640. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $125,820 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Tunstall safe?
Yes, Tunstall is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $216 per resident a year.
Compare Tunstall with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tunstall. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tunstall 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.
Tunstall detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tunstall: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tunstall: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tunstall: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tunstall: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tunstall 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.