Best PlacesVarina, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Varina, 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.
Varina ranks 10,853rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Varina
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.
Varina's strengths and weaknesses
Where Varina ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of towns
Where Varina ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Varina
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Varina home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,817, 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 Varina's effective rate of 0.55%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Varina
Varina 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 Varina.
Who works in Varina, and how
Work in Varina centers on other services and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Varina
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Varina.
What the weather is like in Varina, month by month
Varina 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 Varina
Richmond International sits about 6 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 Varina
Schools across Varina average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Varina ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- John Rolfe MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Varina HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Varina school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Varina 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 Varina against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Varina
Is Varina a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Varina ranks 10,853rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and tree cover, and lowest on noise and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Varina expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $320,100. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $100,817 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Varina safe?
Varina is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $359 per resident a year.
Compare Varina with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Varina. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Varina 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.
Varina detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Varina: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Varina: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Varina: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Varina: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Varina 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.