Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. Overall it grades B−, 171st of 249 graded towns in Virginia. Natural-hazard risk is low. The biggest place to walk is George Washington National Forest, 5,367 acres with 15.3 miles of trail. Stuarts Draft’s average trip to work is 20 minutes, below both the Virginia town median (27 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). Its National Register listings include Bare House and Mill and Harper House.
Where Stuarts Draft beats most towns.
Bare House and Mill| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Stuarts Draft Elementary | PK–5 | 646 |
| Guy K. Stump Elementary | PK–5 | 457 |
| Stuarts Draft Middle | 6–8 | 513 |
Census counts: 448 in 1920, 12,142 in 2020. The archive holds 29 old photos and papers going back to 2002 and 4 maps from 1944 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Stuarts Draft is from typical.
Its grades run from A for hazard risk (better than 85% of comparable towns) to D− for walkability (better than 5%), so the B− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Stuarts Draft. Close and well known come first.
7 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
10 mi National ParkShenandoah National Park1.7M visitors a year
28 mi Stadium & arenaScott Stadium
29 mi Stadium & arenaJohn Paul Jones Arena
33 mi National forestGeorge Washington and Jefferson National Forests
30 mi GardenMarket Street ParkBlue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Shenandoah National Park: Image copyright 2005 by user G. Edward Johnson (user Lorax) and released under t, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Scott Stadium: Mak7912, CC BY-SA 3.0 · John Paul Jones Arena: Bob Mical, CC BY 2.0 · George Washington and Jefferson National Forests: Aneta Kaluzna, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Market Street Park: Chad Fennell, CC BY 2.0
Stuarts Draft is unincorporated, so Augusta 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 Stuarts Draft.
28 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The trail density in Stuarts Draft is 1.0 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. George Washington National Forest | 15.3 mi | 5,367 |
| 2. Schneider Community Park | 0.2 mi | 13 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Augusta County Public Schools. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Stuarts Draft High, with 668 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stuarts Draft ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 646 | C+ |
| Stuarts Draft HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 668 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 84% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Stuarts Draft since 2024.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Stuarts Draft has chilly winters and warm summers. Stuarts Draft’s July high is 85°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 5,947 working residents takes 19.5 minutes, against 27.3 across Virginia. Jobs based here grew from 5,280 in 2013 to 7,321.
Most working residents leave Stuarts Draft for work: only 18% work in town. Since 2013, Stuarts Draft has added 2,041 jobs, to 7,321 in 2023. 7% of Stuarts Draft workers work from home.
| Stuarts Draft | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 4.8% | 8% |
| Work from home | 7% | 18% | 11% |
| Median household income | $79,000 | $102,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 7.3% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Stuarts Draft beats the Virginia average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 41% of adults have obesity in Stuarts Draft.
| Stuarts Draft | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 34% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 22% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 12% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Stuarts Draft | VA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 7.9% | 6.2% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13.9% | 11.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.6% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Stuarts Draft home is worth about $360,000, up 5.8% in a year, 13% below the Virginia typical home.
| Stuarts Draft | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 78% | 68% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,201 a month | $1,764 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Stuarts Draft
About 3 of every 100 Stuarts Draft residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Virginia.
9,235 counted in 2010 and 12,142 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
2 places in Stuarts Draft on the National Register of Historic Places.
CDP in Augusta County, Virginia, US
Stuarts Draft is a census-designated place (CDP) in Augusta County, Virginia, United States. It is part of the Staunton–Waynesboro Micropolitan Statistical Area and adjacent to the South River. Its population was 12,142 as of the 2020 census. Stuarts Draft has a history as an agricultural community, dating back to the 1730s. The modern community also has a processing and manufacturing cluster that includes Hershey, Hollister Incorporated, McKee Foods, NIBCO, Regal Rexnord, Ply Gem - Cornerstone, and a Target Corporation Distribution Center. As one writer notes, "A visitor to Stuarts Draft can see these imposing plants with cattle grazing in a nearby field..."
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Stuarts Draft.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stuarts Draft | #171 | B− | B− | — | B+ | C+ |
| Lyndhurst | — | — | A− | — | B+ | B− |
| Sherando | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Lyndhurst has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Stuarts Draft and Lyndhurst report no FBI crime data of their own. Sherando isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Stuarts Draft with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Stuarts Draft grades B− overall, better than 51% of U.S. towns and #171 of 249 in Virginia. It grades C+ for health and B+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 4.9 years of the area's median household income ($73,544 across the Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA 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 B−.
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