Best PlacesWorlds, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Worlds, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Worlds ranks 42,265th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Worlds
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.
Worlds' strengths and weaknesses
Where Worlds ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Cheap childcare$587 a month, better than 80% of towns
- QuietBetter than 78% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 72% of towns
Where Worlds ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of towns
- Household income$45,288 median, better than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Worlds
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Worlds home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,288, 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 Worlds' effective rate of 0.59%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Worlds
Worlds runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Worlds.
Who works in Worlds, and how
Work in Worlds centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Worlds
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Worlds.
What the weather is like in Worlds, month by month
Worlds sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 39° | 27° |
| April | 75° | 59° | 45° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 75° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Worlds
The nearest airport, Roanoke/Blacksburg Regional (Woodrum Field), is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Worlds
Schools across Worlds average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Union Hall ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chatham MiddleA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Chatham HighA · 77% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Worlds school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Worlds 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 Worlds against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Worlds
Is Worlds a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Worlds ranks 42,265th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, cheap car insurance, and affordable childcare, and lowest on education levels and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Worlds expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $113,300. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $45,288 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Worlds safe?
Worlds is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $412 per resident a year.
Compare Worlds with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Worlds. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Worlds 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.
Worlds detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Worlds: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Worlds: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Worlds: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Worlds: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Worlds 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.