Best PlacesValentines, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valentines, 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.
Valentines ranks 37,225th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Valentines
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.
Valentines' strengths and weaknesses
Where Valentines ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 82% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
Where Valentines ranks low
- Short commute38.4 minutes each way, better than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Valentines
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valentines home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,810, 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 Valentines' effective rate of 0.63%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Valentines
Valentines 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 Valentines.
Who works in Valentines, and how
Work in Valentines centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Valentines
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Valentines.
What the weather is like in Valentines, month by month
Valentines sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 40° | 29° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 75° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Valentines
The nearest airport, Pitt-Greenville, is about 69 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Valentines
Schools across Valentines average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Meherrin Powellton ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- James S. Russell MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Brunswick HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valentines school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valentines 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 Valentines against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Valentines
Is Valentines a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valentines ranks 37,225th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, an educated workforce, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on long commutes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valentines expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $271,066. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $70,810 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Valentines safe?
Valentines is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $586 per resident a year.
Compare Valentines with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valentines. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valentines 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.
Valentines detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valentines: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valentines: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valentines: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valentines: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valentines 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.