Best PlacesWinchester City, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Winchester City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Winchester City ranks 290th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Winchester 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.
Winchester City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Winchester City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of counties
- BikingBetter than 93% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of counties
Where Winchester City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of counties
- Cheap childcare$871 a month, better than only 31% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Winchester City
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Winchester City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,515, 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 Winchester City's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Winchester City
Winchester City'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 Winchester City.
Who works in Winchester City, and how
Work in Winchester City centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Winchester City
Winchester City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of counties and more parkland per resident than 86% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Winchester City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Winchester City growing, and who is moving in?
Winchester City has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Winchester, VA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Winchester City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Winchester City, month by month
Winchester City sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Winchester City
Washington Dulles International sits about 41 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 13.9 million passengers in 2025, with 200 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Winchester City
Schools across Winchester City average an A−, better than 90% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- John Kerr ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Frederick Douglass ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Virginia Avenue Charlotte Dehart ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Daniel Morgan MiddleA · 63% proficient
- Daniel Morgan IntermediateB− · 42% proficient
- James Wood MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Millbrook HighA · 74% proficient
- John Handley HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Winchester City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Winchester 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 Winchester City against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Winchester City suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Winchester City
Is Winchester City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Winchester City ranks 290th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and big-city access, 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 Winchester City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $344,295. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $74,515 median income, cost of living beats 50% of counties.
Is Winchester City safe?
Yes, Winchester City is safer than 80% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Winchester City?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 26. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of counties.
Is Winchester City good for families?
Schools beat 90% of counties, crime safety beats 80%, and childcare runs $871 a month.
Compare Winchester City with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Winchester City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Winchester 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.
Winchester City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Winchester City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Winchester City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Winchester City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Winchester City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Winchester 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.