Best PlacesWightman, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wightman, 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.
Wightman ranks 40,254th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wightman
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.
Wightman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wightman ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute20.6 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of towns
- QuietBetter than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of towns
Where Wightman ranks low
- Household income$45,397 median, better than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 13% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wightman
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wightman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,397, 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 Wightman's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Wightman
Wightman's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Wightman.
Who works in Wightman, and how
Work in Wightman centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Wightman
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wightman.
What the weather is like in Wightman, month by month
Wightman sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 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 | 74° | 59° | 45° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 75° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Wightman
The nearest airport, Lynchburg Regional/Preston Glenn Field, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wightman
Schools across Wightman average a D+, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chase City ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wightman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wightman 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 Wightman against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wightman
Is Wightman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wightman ranks 40,254th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, short commutes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on low incomes 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 Wightman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,400. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $45,397 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Wightman safe?
Wightman is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $465 per resident a year.
Compare Wightman with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wightman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wightman 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.
Wightman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wightman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wightman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wightman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wightman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wightman 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.