Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,665.
Pantops is one of the best-graded places in America: an A, 44th among Virginia's 249 graded towns. Residents are healthier than 98% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, the median household earns $128K, and its schools rank ahead of 85% of Virginia towns. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $523K, 5.6 years of the Charlottesville metro’s $94K median household income. Pantops’ trail density is 4.3 miles per square mile, where Virginia’s towns sit at 0.7 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Pantops is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. Monticello and Morven is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Pantops beats most towns.
Where Pantops’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Pantops is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 7 old photos and papers going back to 2013 and 6 maps from 1935 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Pantops is unincorporated, so Albemarle County and regional agencies provide most services.
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 Pantops.
Pantops draws workers from Charlottesville and beyond, has more trail for its size than nearly any town in Virginia and has less food insecurity than most of Virginia.
At 4.3 miles of trail per square mile, it ranks #3 of 212 Virginia towns.
For Pantops, that is against 4.6% in Virginia’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. 10 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Darden Towe Park, at 115 acres with 1.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Darden Towe Park | 1.9 mi | 115 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A for schools comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $523K.
One of its 3 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountaintop Montessori School PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 242 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Virginia is food insecurity: 5.5% of its 3,857 adults worry about having enough food, against 13.1% statewide.
6.1% of adults smoke cigarettes in Pantops. Pantops beats the Virginia average on 20 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 30% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Pantops.
| Pantops | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 16% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 6.1% | 12% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 34% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.8% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Pantops | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.5% | 13.1% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 3.3% | 7.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.6% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
5,753 jobs are based in Pantops, 3.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 19.1 minutes, against 27.3 across Virginia.
Most working residents leave Pantops for work: only 7% work in town. The average trip to work in Pantops is 19 minutes. Since 2013, Pantops has lost 905 jobs, to 5,753 in 2023.
| Pantops | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $128,000 | $101,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 3.5% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 68% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Pantops since 2018.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Pantops has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 27° and about 17 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
46% of Pantops households own their home.
| Pantops | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 46% | 68% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,881 a month | $1,760 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Pantops. Close and well known come first.
18 mi National ParkShenandoah National Park1.7M visitors a year
22 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
4 mi Stadium & arenaScott Stadium
4 mi Stadium & arenaJohn Paul Jones Arena36 mi Scenic driveSkyline Drive
2 mi GardenMarket Street ParkShenandoah National Park: Image copyright 2005 by user G. Edward Johnson (user Lorax) and released under t, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Blue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Scott Stadium: Mak7912, CC BY-SA 3.0 · John Paul Jones Arena: Bob Mical, CC BY 2.0 · Skyline Drive: Image copyright 2005 by user G. Edward Johnson (user Lorax) and released under t, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Market Street Park: Chad Fennell, CC BY 2.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Pantops
About 6 of every 100 Pantops residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Virginia.
CDP in Virginia, United States
Pantops is a census-designated place in Albemarle County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Pantops had a population of 4,682.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Pantops.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pantops | #44 | A | D | — | A | A+ |
| Charlottesville | #208 | C | D | D | C | B+ |
Pantops reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Pantops with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Pantops grades A overall, better than 92% of U.S. towns and #44 of 249 in Virginia. It grades A+ for health and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $523,000, 27% above the Virginia typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
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