Best PlacesWallops Island, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wallops Island, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wallops Island ranks 24,682nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wallops Island
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.
Wallops Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wallops Island ranks high
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
- Short commute22.1 minutes each way, better than 79% of towns
Where Wallops Island ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 18% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 21% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wallops Island
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wallops Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,047, 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 Wallops Island's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wallops Island
Wallops Island 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 Wallops Island.
Who works in Wallops Island, and how
Work in Wallops Island centers on transportation & warehousing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Wallops Island
The coast is about 21 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Wallops Island, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wallops Island, month by month
Wallops Island sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 50, 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 | 50° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 62° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Wallops Island
The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wallops Island
Schools across Wallops Island average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chincoteague ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Kegotank ElementaryC+ · 36% proficient
- Metompkin ElementaryC · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Arcadia MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Chincoteague HighA · 75% proficient
- Arcadia HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wallops Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wallops Island 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 Wallops Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wallops Island
Is Wallops Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wallops Island ranks 24,682nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, cheap car insurance, and low property taxes, and lowest on disaster risk and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wallops Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,295. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $85,047 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Wallops Island safe?
Wallops Island is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $372 per resident a year.
Compare Wallops Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wallops Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wallops Island 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.
Wallops Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wallops Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wallops Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wallops Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wallops Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wallops Island 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.