Best PlacesWalmsley, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walmsley, 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.
Walmsley ranks 42,878th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on health care access.
The best neighborhoods in Walmsley
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.
Walmsley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walmsley ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 78% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 74% of towns
Where Walmsley ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$45,018 median, better than only 7% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Walmsley
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walmsley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,018, 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 Walmsley's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 Walmsley
Walmsley 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 Walmsley.
Who works in Walmsley, and how
Work in Walmsley centers on education and wholesale trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Walmsley
The coast is about 17 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Walmsley, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Walmsley, month by month
Walmsley sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Walmsley
Richmond International sits about 53 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 Walmsley
Schools across Walmsley average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northumberland ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northumberland MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Northumberland HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walmsley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walmsley 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 Walmsley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Walmsley
Is Walmsley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walmsley ranks 42,878th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, cheap car insurance, and big-city access, and lowest on disaster risk and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Walmsley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,241. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $45,018 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Walmsley safe?
Walmsley is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $410 per resident a year.
Compare Walmsley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walmsley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walmsley 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.
Walmsley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walmsley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walmsley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walmsley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walmsley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walmsley 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.