Best PlacesVirginia Beach City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Virginia Beach City, 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.
Virginia Beach City ranks 160th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $100,905, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are noise, state finances, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Virginia Beach City
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.
Virginia Beach City's strengths and weaknesses
Virginia Beach City ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys, good schools, and biking carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, state finances, and childcare costs hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Virginia Beach City ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 95% of counties
- BikingBetter than 94% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of counties
- TransitBetter than 94% of counties
Where Virginia Beach City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 13% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Cheap childcare$999 a month, better than only 17% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Virginia Beach City
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Virginia Beach City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $100,905; 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 Virginia Beach City's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Virginia Beach City
Virginia Beach City's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Virginia Beach City.
Who works in Virginia Beach City, and how
Work in Virginia Beach City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Virginia Beach City
Virginia Beach City has more late-night spots per resident than 81% of counties. The coast is about 8 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Virginia Beach City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Virginia Beach City growing, and who is moving in?
Virginia Beach City has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Virginia Beach, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Virginia Beach City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Virginia Beach City, month by month
Virginia Beach City sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 43° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 49° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Virginia Beach City
The nearest airport, Norfolk International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Virginia Beach City
Schools across Virginia Beach City average an A−, better than 95% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kingston ElementaryA+ · 92% proficient
- North Landing ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Princess Anne ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Old Donation SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Great Neck MiddleA+ · 85% proficient
- Princess Anne MiddleA+ · 84% proficient
Top high schools
- Floyd Kellam HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Frank W. Cox HighA+ · 83% proficient
- Princess Anne HighA+ · 82% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Virginia Beach City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Virginia Beach City 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 Virginia Beach City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Virginia Beach City suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Virginia Beach City
Is Virginia Beach City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Virginia Beach City ranks 160th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, good schools, and biking, and lowest on noise and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Virginia Beach City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $413,753. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $100,905 median income, cost of living beats 95% of counties.
Is Virginia Beach City safe?
Virginia Beach City is safer than 36% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $420 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Virginia Beach City?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 32. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 20% of counties.
Is Virginia Beach City good for families?
Schools beat 95% of counties, crime safety beats 36%, and childcare runs $999 a month.
Is Virginia Beach City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 66% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Virginia Beach City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Virginia Beach City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Virginia Beach City 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.
Virginia Beach City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Virginia Beach City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Virginia Beach City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Virginia Beach City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Virginia Beach City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Virginia Beach City 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.