Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 8,890, settled in 1851. 2.1 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Virginia town.
Trash day: WednesdayFew places in the country grade higher. Purcellville earns an A+, 2nd of 249 graded towns in Virginia. The median household earns $165K, residents are healthier than 94% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, and its schools rank ahead of 88% of Virginia towns. Its lowest mark, a C, is in cost of living. Purcellville’s median household income is $165,000, above both the Virginia town median ($101,000) and the median of U.S. towns ($80,000). On safety, just 3 of Virginia’s 105 towns do better. Purcellville is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 91% of U.S. towns.
Where Purcellville beats most towns.
Census counts: 98 in 1880, 8,929 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1937 and 4 maps from 1944 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Purcellville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Purcellville, 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 Purcellville.
Purcellville trades workers with Leesburg and other neighbors and has milder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of Virginia; it also has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Virginia.
At 7.1 years of the Washington metro’s $127K median household income, the typical home (about $900K) costs more against local pay than in 92% of Virginia towns; that ratio is one input to its C for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $6,041, against $2,790 across Virginia, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Purcellville home is worth about $900,000, up 3.5% in a year, about twice the Virginia typical home. The median rent in Purcellville is $2,222 a month.
| Purcellville | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,222 a month | $1,760 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 90% | 68% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Loudoun County Public Schools. Three of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Woodgrove High, with 1,562 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Ridge MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 714 | B |
| Woodgrove HighLargest public high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 1,562 | A− |
| Emerick ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 416 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Virginia is food insecurity: 7.7% of its 6,280 adults worry about having enough food, against 13.1% statewide. Against the 1,886 U.S. towns with household incomes like Purcellville’s, it is healthier than 60%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
30% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Purcellville. Purcellville beats the Virginia average on 19 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 8% of adults have diabetes in Purcellville.
| Purcellville | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 36% | 36% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8% | 11% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 12% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 23% | 25% |
| What stands out | Purcellville | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.7% | 13.1% |
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 2.1% | 3.3% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 72.6% | 76.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 93% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Reported crimes fell from 55 to 31 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 1 reported in 2025, 0.1 per 1,000 residents.
Purcellville’s property crime rate is 3.3 per 1,000 residents. Among 86 Virginia towns, just 2 have a lower violent crime rate than Purcellville.
| Purcellville | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.3 per 1,000 residents | 14.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.1 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
1.7 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Suzanne R. Kane Nature Preserve, at 27 acres.
| Purcellville | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.3% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Suzanne R. Kane Nature Preserve | 0.4 mi | 27 |
| 2. Fireman's Field Park | 0.2 mi | 15 |
| 3. Washington & Old Dominion Trail Regional Park | — | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
January nights average 24.1°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 84% of Virginia places with climate records; July afternoons average 86.7°.
Purcellville has chilly winters and warm summers. About 21 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Purcellville | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 87°F | 88°F | 85°F |
| January low | 24°F | 26°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Purcellville has about as many jobs (4,482) as working residents, but only 364 people both live and work here. 27.8% of workers work from home, against 18.3% across Virginia.
Most working residents leave Purcellville for work: only 9% work in town. Jobs based in Purcellville grew to 4,482 in 2023, 738 more than in 2013. 4.6% of Purcellville residents live below the poverty line.
| Purcellville | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.6% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 8.5% | 4.8% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Purcellville. Close and well known come first.
Big draw40 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw40 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw11 mi LandmarkMount Weather Emergency Operations Center
Big draw39 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw39 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw39 mi National MemorialLincoln Memorial7.7M visitors a yearWhite House: This image or media was taken or created by Matt H. Wade. To see his entire port, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Washington Monument: Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center: Unknown, Public domain · Arlington National Cemetery: Protoant, Public domain · United States Triumphal Arch: Hstoops, CC0 · Lincoln Memorial: Aerial_view_of_Lincoln_Memorial_-_east_side.jpg: Carol M. Highsmith derivative w, Public domain
1 within 15 miles of the center of Purcellville
About 7 of every 100 Purcellville residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Virginia.
7,727 counted in 2010 and 8,929 in 2020; an estimated 8,890 in 2025.
Growth has leveled off: within 1% of 2020, after 15.6% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
6 places in Purcellville on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in northern Virginia
Purcellville is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. The population was 8,929 according to the 2020 census. Purcellville is the major population center for Western Loudoun and the Loudoun Valley. Many of the older structures remaining in Purcellville reflect the Victorian architecture popular during the early twentieth century.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Purcellville grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #2 of 249 in Virginia. It grades A for health, A for safety and A for schools.
That is 7.1 years of the area's median household income ($126,684 across the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
2 notable people were born here, including Reuben C. Baker and Henry Cole.
