Best PlacesWise County, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wise County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wise County ranks 1,961st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wise County
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.
The best areas in Wise County
The parts of Wise County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Wise & Pound
Tree cover is thicker and fewer homes sit empty.
Big Stone Gap
Commutes are shorter, though fewer households have young kids.
Coeburn
It is noisier and local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Wise County run from about the 8th to the 66th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wise County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wise County ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 97% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of counties
- Cheap childcare$576 a month, better than 76% of counties
Where Wise County ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Household income$52,284 median, better than only 12% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 15% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wise County
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wise County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,284, 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 Wise County's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wise County
Wise County 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 Wise County.
Who works in Wise County, and how
Work in Wise County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Wise County
Wise County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Wise County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wise County growing, and who is moving in?
Wise County has lost about 12% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Burlington, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wise County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wise County, month by month
Wise County sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 45° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Wise County
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wise County
Schools across Wise County average an A, better than 97% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- St. Paul ElementaryA+ · 92% proficient
- J.w. Adams CombinedA+ · 81% proficient
- Coeburn PrimaryA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- L.f. Addington MiddleA+ · 79% proficient
- Coeburn MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
- Union MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Central HighA+ · 85% proficient
- J.i. Burton HighA · 78% proficient
- Union HighA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wise County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wise County 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 Wise County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wise County suits
Common questions about living in Wise County
Is Wise County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wise County ranks 1,961st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, heat safety, and tree cover, and lowest on education levels and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wise County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $130,171. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $52,284 median income, cost of living beats 16% of counties.
Is Wise County safe?
Wise County is safer than 36% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $405 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wise County?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 28. That works out to about 112 pleasant days a year, more than 69% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wise County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wise & Pound, Big Stone Gap, and Coeburn. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Wise County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wise County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wise County 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.
Wise County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wise County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wise County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wise County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wise County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wise County 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.