Best PlacesUpshaw, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Upshaw, 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.
Upshaw ranks 7,228th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Upshaw
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.
Upshaw's strengths and weaknesses
Where Upshaw ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$110,671 median, better than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 86% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Upshaw ranks low
- Short commute42.0 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Upshaw
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Upshaw home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $110,671, 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 Upshaw's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Upshaw
Upshaw 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 Upshaw.
Who works in Upshaw, and how
Work in Upshaw centers on public administration and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Upshaw
The coast is about 30 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Upshaw, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Upshaw, month by month
Upshaw sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Upshaw
Richmond International sits about 23 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 Upshaw
Schools across Upshaw average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lawson-marriott ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hamilton Holmes MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- King William HighA− · 62% proficient
- Central HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Upshaw school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Upshaw 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 Upshaw against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Upshaw
Is Upshaw a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Upshaw ranks 7,228th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Upshaw expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $297,706. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $110,671 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Upshaw safe?
Yes, Upshaw is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $204 per resident a year.
Compare Upshaw with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Upshaw. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Upshaw 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.
Upshaw detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Upshaw: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Upshaw: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Upshaw: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Upshaw: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Upshaw 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.