Best PlacesWirtz, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wirtz, 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.
Wirtz ranks 15,342nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wirtz
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.
Wirtz's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wirtz ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
Where Wirtz ranks low
- Short commute36.0 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wirtz
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wirtz home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $72,432; 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 Wirtz's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wirtz
Wirtz 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 Wirtz.
Who works in Wirtz, and how
Work in Wirtz centers on manufacturing and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Wirtz
Wirtz has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Wirtz and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wirtz, month by month
Wirtz sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, 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 | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Wirtz
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wirtz
Schools across Wirtz average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dudley ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Burnt Chimney ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Boones Mill ElementaryA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Benjamin Franklin MiddleA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Franklin County HighA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wirtz school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wirtz 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 Wirtz against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wirtz
Is Wirtz a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wirtz ranks 15,342nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, low disaster risk, and civic engagement, and lowest on long commutes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wirtz expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $301,349. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $72,432 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Wirtz safe?
Yes, Wirtz is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $246 per resident a year.
Compare Wirtz with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wirtz. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wirtz 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.
Wirtz detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wirtz: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wirtz: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wirtz: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wirtz: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wirtz 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.