Best PlacesWilliamsburg City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Williamsburg City, 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.
Williamsburg City ranks 368th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Williamsburg 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.
Williamsburg City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Williamsburg City ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 98% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of counties
- School gradeA, better than 96% of counties
Where Williamsburg City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 20% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Williamsburg City
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Williamsburg City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,625, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Williamsburg City's effective rate of 0.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Williamsburg City
Williamsburg City runs younger 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 Williamsburg City.
Who works in Williamsburg City, and how
Work in Williamsburg City centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 20%
Life in Williamsburg City
Williamsburg City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of counties and more parkland per resident than 87% of counties. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Williamsburg City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Williamsburg City growing, and who is moving in?
Williamsburg City has grown about 10% 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 Williamsburg City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Williamsburg City, month by month
Williamsburg City sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 76° | 65° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Williamsburg City
The nearest airport, Newport News/Williamsburg International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 37 miles away.
The best schools in and around Williamsburg City
Schools across Williamsburg City average an A, better than 96% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Waller Mill ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Magruder ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Matthew Whaley ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Queens Lake MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
- Berkeley MiddleA · 64% proficient
- James Blair MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Jamestown HighA · 79% proficient
- Lafayette HighA · 73% proficient
- Bruton HighA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Williamsburg City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Williamsburg 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 Williamsburg City against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Williamsburg City
Is Williamsburg City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Williamsburg City ranks 368th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and biking, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Williamsburg City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $452,251. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $71,625 median income, cost of living beats 62% of counties.
Is Williamsburg City safe?
Williamsburg City is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $342 per resident a year.
Compare Williamsburg City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Williamsburg City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Williamsburg 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.
Williamsburg City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Williamsburg City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Williamsburg City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Williamsburg City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Williamsburg City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Williamsburg 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.