Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Blacksburg grades A− overall, better than 79% of U.S. towns. Natural-hazard risk is low. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 80% of the country and its schools outperform 79% of the state's. The catch is cost: homes are expensive, about $413K for a typical one and 6.3 times the Blacksburg metro’s $66K median household income. Blacksburg is a college campus (most residents are students), so it isn’t ranked among Virginia’s towns. 43% of residents live below the poverty line in Blacksburg, against 7.7% in Virginia’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Blacksburg is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 97% of U.S. towns. On safety, just 9 of Virginia’s 105 towns do better.
Where Blacksburg beats most towns.
Smithfield
Its founding year, 1671, comes before those of 97% of the Virginia towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 688 in 1880, 44,826 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1888 and 4 maps from 1932 on.
15 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Blacksburg is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Blacksburg. Close and well known come first.
Big draw9 mi Park & preserveAppalachian Trail3.0M visitors a year
in town Stadium & arenaLane Stadium
18 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
11 mi LakeMountain Lake
40 mi National PreserveNew River Gorge National Park and Preserve2.0M visitors a year
39 mi LandmarkProject Greek IslandAppalachian Trail: Paulba. Original uploader was Paulbalegend at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lane Stadium: User:B, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Blue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Mountain Lake: Rolfmueller, CC BY-SA 3.0 · New River Gorge National Park and Preserve: NKS22, Public domain · Project Greek Island: Z22, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Blacksburg, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Blacksburg.
Blacksburg is shaped by its college students, draws workers from Christiansburg and beyond and fares better on crime within Virginia than nationally.
Public schools: the Montgomery County Public Schools. Of its 10 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason. 4 public schools serve Blacksburg, with 1,275 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blacksburg MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 958 | B+ |
| Blacksburg HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,325 | A+ |
| Gilbert Linkous ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 292 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
Trails run 35 miles in 32 parks and preserves. Heritage Community Park & Natural Area, at 168 acres with 1.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. In Blacksburg, the trail network density is 1.8 miles per square mile.
| Blacksburg | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.8 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6.8% | 4.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Heritage Community Park & Natural Area | 1.9 mi | 168 |
| 2. Gateway Trail Park | 0.9 mi | 15 |
| 3. Blacksburg Municipal Park | — | 35 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
21,328 jobs are based in Blacksburg, 2.3 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 14.8 minutes, against 27.3 across Virginia.
Half of commuters travel less than 5 miles. 47% of Blacksburg working residents work locally. The top destinations are Christiansburg (8%), Roanoke (4%) and Radford (3%). The town’s middle household income stands at $50,000.
| Blacksburg | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 47% | 4.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 15 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $50,000 | $102,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 18% | 17% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Flood insurance has paid out on 5 claims in Blacksburg since 1978. FEMA puts 50% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 20% to cold waves. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Blacksburg after 7 declared disasters, most recently in 2025.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 5,857 U.S. towns with household incomes like Blacksburg’s, it is healthier than 99%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
The share of adults in Blacksburg who have high blood pressure: 20%. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Blacksburg is ahead of Virginia on 11 and behind on 10. Also worth knowing: among 253 Virginia towns, just 4 have a higher share of adults who binge drink than Blacksburg.
| Blacksburg | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 16% | 17% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 33% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 34% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 71% | 79% | 79% |
| What stands out | Blacksburg | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 3.3% | 7.7% |
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 5.7% | 12.5% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 12.1% | 7.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 9.6 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 93% of Virginia’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 34 reported in 2025, 0.7 per 1,000 residents.
Blacksburg’s violent offense rate comes in at 0.7 per 1,000 residents. The property crime rate for Blacksburg comes to 5.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Blacksburg | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.5 per 1,000 residents | 14.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.7 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The town’s peak summer temperature is 84°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 6.3 years of the Blacksburg metro’s $66K median household income, the typical home (about $413K) costs more against local pay than in 84% of Virginia towns; that ratio is one input to that grade. 63% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 48.5% across Virginia.
The typical rent in Blacksburg is $1,359 a month. In the year to September 2026, typical home values climbed 1.8%. 36% of households live in a home they own in the town.
| Blacksburg | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 36% | 68% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 63% | 47% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,359 a month | $1,764 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
3 within 15 miles of the center of Blacksburg
College town 56 of every 100 Blacksburg residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Virginia.
2 colleges in town.
15 places in Blacksburg on the National Register of Historic Places.
10 notable people were born in Blacksburg.
Town in Virginia, United States
Blacksburg is an incorporated town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 44,826 at the 2020 census. Blacksburg and the surrounding county is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of Virginia Tech. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and the city of Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg metropolitan area, which encompasses those jurisdictions and all of Montgomery, Pulaski, and Giles counties for statistical purposes. The MSA has an estimated population of 181,863 and is currently one of the faster-growing MSAs in Virginia.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Blacksburg.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blacksburg | – | A− | D− | A− | A− | A− |
| Merrimac | #107 | A− | C | — | A− | A− |
| Prices Fork | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Merrimac reports no FBI crime data of its own. Prices Fork isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Blacksburg with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Blacksburg grades A− overall, better than 79% of U.S. towns. Blacksburg is a college campus (most residents are students), so it isn’t ranked among Virginia’s towns. It grades A− for health, A− for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
10 notable people were born here, including John B. Floyd and Patri Friedman.
