Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,853, settled in 1874.
Wise gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $186K, 3.5 years of the county’s $53K median household income. It grades B+ overall, ranked 132nd of 249 in Virginia. On the plus side, its schools rank ahead of 97% of Virginia towns. 25% of working residents work locally in Wise, above both Virginia’s towns (4.8%) and U.S. towns (8%). No town among the 253 in Virginia we compare has a lower July high than Wise. Wise has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Wise County Courthouse and Colonial Hotel.
Where Wise beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Wise Primary | PK–4 | 603 |
| Minnick Education Center - Wise | 2–8 | 13 |
| L.F. Addington Middle | 5–8 | 387 |
Where Wise’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 Wise is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 128 in 1880, 2,971 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 6 maps from 1921 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wise, 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 Wise.
Wise pairs an A+ for schools with modest home prices, gets more snow than almost anywhere else in Virginia and draws workers from Norton and beyond.
That grade comes with an A− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $186K. It ranks #4 of the 250 Virginia towns we grade for schools.
The Wise County Public Schools runs its public schools. Two of the 6 schools are below, and why each made the list. 2 public schools serve Wise, with 990 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wise PrimaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 603 | A− |
| L.F. Addington MiddleTop results in townGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 387 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
3,714 jobs are based in Wise, 4.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 19.9 minutes, against 27.3 across Virginia.
About one worker in four stays in Wise for work. The middle household income in the town is $54,000. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Wise dropped by 390, to 3,714. Wise: 13% of residents live below the poverty line.
| Wise | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $54,000 | $102,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The median property tax bill is $935, against $2,790 across Virginia, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
A typical home in Wise is worth about $186,000, up 0.5% in a year, 55% below the Virginia typical home. The going rate for rent for Wise comes to $825 a month. Among households here, 71% are owner-occupiers.
| Wise | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $825 a month | $1,764 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 71% | 68% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
On expected storm and flood damage, Wise sits below 91% of U.S. communities. 52% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by cold waves at 26%. The national flood insurance program has paid 36 claims here since 1978.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 6,992 U.S. towns with household incomes like Wise’s, it is less healthy than 50%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income.
In Wise, 39% of adults have high blood pressure. 16% of adults in Wise report frequent physical distress; 40% have obesity.
| Wise | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 22% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 12% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 34% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Wise | VA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9% | 6.2% |
| More smokers | 16.1% | 12.2% |
| More adults with heart disease | 7.8% | 6.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The Wise 1se weather station records that 47 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, the highest of 698 Virginia places with climate records. The Wise 1se weather station records that about 1 days a year reach 90°, fewer than in 97% of U.S. towns.
July afternoons reach 80° and January nights drop to 24°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 21.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 61% of Virginia’s graded towns.
Wise’s level of property crime is 15.5 per 1,000 residents. For Wise, the rate of reported violence is 1.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Wise | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 15.5 per 1,000 residents | 14.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.8 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Just 1 of its 1,940 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Wise itself; its outdoors grade is D.
0.4 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Wise’s concentration of trails stands at 0.1 miles per square mile. One park or preserve covers 2 acres here.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Arrowhead Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
2 within 15 miles of the center of Wise
About 3 of every 100 Wise residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Virginia.
3 places in Wise on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Wise.
Town in Virginia, United States
Wise is a town in Wise County, Virginia. The population was 2,970 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Wise County. It was originally incorporated as the town of Gladeville in 1874. The town's name was changed to Wise in 1924, after Henry A. Wise, the last Virginia governor before the American Civil War and the first governor to hail from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The town is also the home of the University of Virginia's College at Wise.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Wise.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wise | #132 | B+ | A− | C+ | A+ | C |
| The University of Virginia's College at Wise | — | — | — | — | — | — |
The University of Virginia's College at Wise isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Wise with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Wise grades B+ overall, better than 70% of U.S. towns and #132 of 249 in Virginia. It grades C for health, C+ for safety and A+ for schools.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
3 notable people were born here, including George C. Scott and Carroll Dale.
