Best PlacesWinston, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Winston, 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.
Winston ranks 12,484th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Winston
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.
Winston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Winston ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 83% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
Where Winston ranks low
- Short commute38.5 minutes each way, better than only 7% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Winston
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Winston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $87,328; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Winston's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Winston
Winston runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Winston.
Who works in Winston, and how
Work in Winston centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Winston
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Winston.
What the weather is like in Winston, month by month
Winston sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Winston
The nearest airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 48 miles away.
The best schools in and around Winston
Schools across Winston average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pearl Sample ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Floyd T. Binns MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Eastern View HighA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Winston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Winston 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 Winston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Winston
Is Winston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Winston ranks 12,484th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on long commutes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Winston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $363,147. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $87,328 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Winston safe?
Yes, Winston is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
Compare Winston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Winston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Winston 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.
Winston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Winston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Winston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Winston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Winston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Winston 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.