What are Virginia's Best Rural Towns to Retire or Buy a Home. (2023)

Introduction

Are you looking for a rural town to buy some real estate in Virginia? Want to get a mortgage and live the American Dream or just retire away from the big city? Who doesn’t right?
Today we are looking at great rural towns in Virginia.
Virginia is a very historic state or commonwealth that in my opinion is very different depending on what side you are on. Most states are like that, Virginia seems to me to be a little more noticeable than most.
Like I said in the other videos, I normally do Top 10 lists, but not all states have 10 good rural towns and I don’t want to waste your time with some places that are a reach just to get to 10. Virginia has crime issues in their small rural towns and they seem to be lacking when it comes to decent internet. Those two things knocked a bunch of great small towns off this list. For those of you that keep commenting about not needing the internet, congratulations, you are a rarity these days. I’d also like to talk to you and find out what it's like still living in 1990 22 years later.
The focus of this series is rural towns. That normally implies a good distance outside a metro area.
With the towns in this video, we are looking for that sweet spot. A decent place to live that isn’t too close to any major cities, easy on the crime rate, not 5 hours away from a hospital or so far out in the sticks they have horrible internet. Those things knocked a lot of small towns off this list.

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Content

Are you looking for a rural town to buy some real estate, wanna, get a mortgage and live the American dream? Are you just looking and retire away from the big city who doesn't right.

Today? We're, looking at great rural towns in the Commonwealth of Virginia., Yes.

It's Commonwealth, not a state.

There's, not much of a difference unless you're in the Commonwealth.

They seem to take some kind of pride in it., And, they'll, correct., You Virginia is a very historic state or Commonwealth.

And.

In my opinion, it's very different.

Depending on what side of the state you happen to be standing.

On.

Most states are sort of like that.

Virginia seems to be a little more noticeable than most states.

Like I said, in the other.

Videos, I normally do top 10 lists, but not all states have 10 good rural towns., And I, don't wanna waste your time with a bunch of places that are reach just to get to 10.

Virginia has some crime issues in their small rural towns, and they seem to be lacking when it comes to decent internet.

Those.

Two things knocked a whole bunch of great small towns off this list.

And for those of you, who've been commenting lately about you, don't need internet., If you're moving out to the country.

That's part of the reason you wanna disconnect., Congratulations.

You are a rarity.

These days.

I'd also like to talk to you and find out what it's like still living in 19 90, 22 years.

Later.

People need internet these days, especially if you're working from home.

But.

The focus of this series is rural towns.

That normally implies a good distance outside of Metro area.

When.

It comes to towns in this video.

We are looking for that sweet spot, a decent place to live that isn't too close to a major city.

It's easy on the crime.

It's, not five hours away from a hospital, and it's not so far out in the sticks that you get horrible internet.

Those are the requirements.

Get it.

Got it.

Good.

Let's.

Take a look.

Number six, Floyd, Virginia Floyd sits about 45 minutes west of Rocky mountain, Virginia.

The town of Floyd was originally called Jacksonville.

The named it after president Andrew accent.

And.

He was, you know, the man in the white house when the town kind of came to be.

The name was subsequently changed to Floyd for Virginia, governor John Floyd.

Now.

He was pretty interesting.

Guy.

He was the governor of Virginia, but he's the one that actually started pushing for the United States to kind of claim Oregon as part of the United States.

After, the war of 1812, by both Britain and the United States had claimed Oregon, but nobody was really pressing the issue and there were no outposts or anything like that out there at the time.

He's, the one that pushed for it to happen.

They named the town after him, these days.

It's, a small rural town.

That's, got a population of about 600.

It's, a nice looking place.

The countryside here is amazing.

It's nice.

It is a great place to live.

They got a crime rate that sits 14% below the national average, which is outstanding.

When.

It comes to healthcare.

They have some health clinics in town, nothing big, and a few doctors, office, family practice, things like that.

If.

You need a hospital.

They have the Carilion new river valley, medical center, which is about 25 minutes to the north.

So.

They get a thumbs up for both healthcare and crime rate.

When it comes to internet, not a problem.

Now, keep in mind the internet numbers they give.

You are mostly for the downtown and surrounding area.

The.

Further you get out into the world portions, eh, you got some, you know, you gotta question, them., If, they're gonna be able to deliver internet to your place before you buy someplace, always keep that in mind.

And, as time goes on, that will become less and less of an issue, especially with things like what Elon Musk is doing with his new satellite internet thing.

It's supposed to be pretty good.

We'll see how it pans out in the next years.

But right now you have a few choices.

You have citizens, internet broadband, whatever you wanna call it, they offer one gig and they say they cover 90% of Floyd.

They also have one called all points.

Broadband.

It only gives you 25 MVP.

And, that covers about 25% of the town.

So.

They get a thumbs up for internet, which to be perfectly honest.

I was surprised that they had as good a coverage in Floyd.

Cuz Floyd is not a big place.

Uh, there's only 600 people that live here and they got decent internet.

Floyd also gets big thumbs up for their real estate.

They have a lot of things for sale, both in town and the outskirts.

And.

It's a wide range of prices.

Too.

I've seen some decent ones here, just going by Zillow that are under 200,000 that are in town, four bedroom, three bath, $189,000.

Older home looks decent.

They got some other ones, four 50, but three 50 to four 50 is what you're probably looking for to find something nice in and around town.

If you wanna go outside of town.

You could find some older homes that need a little work.

That'll, probably come with a couple acres and those go for about 200,000 as well.

Here's, something to keep in mind about all Virginia towns.

They're, really close to nature.

Almost always.

That means hiking trails, fishing, whatever you wanna do, you're gonna, find it here.

Virginia's just that way.

Sure.

When you get over into the cities like Richmond and stuff, like that, you're, not gonna, find as much, but most of the stuff we're talking about on this list is rural.

Rural always has hiking.

Virginia has really good hiking.

Number, five, Abington, Virginia Abdon is a nice rural town, about 20 minutes north of the Tennessee border.

And about two hours, Southwest of Roanoke, Virginia.

Again.

This is a great place.

If! You like the outdoors.

As a matter of fact.

You could find a trail head for the Virginia creeper trail in Abington, where you outdoor types.

This, offers the possibility of seeing some amazing wildlife and some awesome landscapes and kind of big for rural town, but just outside of a great downtown.

You have wilderness and farms.

Everywhere.

This is a great place to live.

If.

You do wanna be away from big cities, I mean Bristol's right down the road, but Bristol's, really not that big.

It has a population of 8,000.

That's, pretty good size.

And.

They have a crime rate that is 39% lower than the national average that outstanding.

Now.

When it comes to internet, you can get one gig from Xfinity, which covers 90% of the town.

They also have point broadband, which offers one gig and they also offer 60% of the town.

So.

Both crime and internet get a thumbs.

Up.

It's a big thumbs up for healthcare, right outside of town.

They, have Johnston Memorial hospital emergency room.

The bit.

It's also a great place.

If.

You wanna buy a house.

They have a wide range of prices and property sizes and all that good stuff.

Currently they have homes as low as 200,000, but go up to about 550,000.

I would say a majority of the good ones, you'll find between 250 and 325,000.

And I'm.

Talking really nice homes, big lots.

You're, not right.

On top of each other.

Just nice homes., So yeah.

They definitely get a thumbs up for real estate.

Number four, Coburn, Virginia Coburn is a mountain town on the west side of Virginia, about an hour north of Kingsport NSE on the guest river.

This is a great place for hiking, fishing and camping.

And.

It's also a great place to get lost in the woods.

Apparently.

This happens a handful of times annually in these parts, the town of Coburn, was originally named guest station.

After an Explorer and surveyor Christopher guest.

If you've ever played the game.

Assassins, creed he's there, but he was a real man, Explorer and surveyor.

And.

They named the town after him, even though his last name spelled GI S T.

They went with guest and then they changed it to Coburn.

After a railroad chief engineer., You know, when I do these things, it's, I'm, always amazed how often rail lines have shaped this country, whether it's the name of a place, whether there's a town someplace because of the rail.

I? Just don't think people these days realize how important trains were to this country.

So.

Many of these little towns named different things after rail people, because there was really nothing to the town and the rail was like a godsend that now they can get supplies.

The town will grow.

More.

People will come to the area.

It's really interesting when it comes to internet, they're, doing really good here.

Now I'll tell you right.

Now.

More often than not mountain towns are the ones that have horrible, internet.

It's just hard to get the line out to a lot of these different places, especially when they're up the Hills off the road.

It's kind of hard, but they're doing pretty good here.

They get one gig from Xfinity in Xfinity covers 85% of the town.

You also have mountain net, which gets one gig.

They cover 35% of the town.

You got a couple.

Other ones called point broadband, 10% of the town.

And.

Then you always have the satellite internets.

So.

They get a thumbs up for internet.

Now, when it comes to healthcare, they're.

Doing pretty good.

They have like a doctor's office in town, nothing major, but down the road, about 15 minutes away in Norton.

You have the Norton community, hospital.

That's, a good size place has just about everything you need.

Anything, past that, you're gonna probably have to go down to Knoxville or something like that.

So.

They get a thumbs up for healthcare.

Number, three, Strausberg, Virginia, or Strausberg Strausberg.

I've actually heard people call it both.

They kind of put this owl on there like Strausberg, but it's really Strausberg.

And I'm.

Sure a bunch of people are gonna comment in the comment: section.

So, uh, buckle up for that one.

Strasburg sits about an hour and a half west of Washington, DC on the north fork of the Chan Doah river.

This is a beautiful town of about 6,500 residents.

Besides having great stats all the way, around.

I included this one for the veterans.

They have some great VA hospital that are within an hour away, hour and a half.

If.

You want to go into DC for everyone else.

They get a thumbs up for healthcare because they have a few family practices in town, along with their urgent care.

Beyond that you have Warren Memorial hospital, about 20 minutes away in front Royal.

So.

They got plenty of healthcare.

They're, doing great.

They get a thumbs up for crime.

Two, it's 51% lower than the national average, which is outstanding.

Now.

Their internet.

I'm gonna, give it a faded thumbs up because they have a company called Chantelle.

They have one gig, but it only covers 85% of the town.

They also offer 100 megabytes per second.

And that cover about 90% of the town.

I'm.

Sure some people in the neighborhood or in this town are getting hosed.

So.

They get a faded thumbs, up.

When you're.

Looking at real estate, they have quite a few things to choose: from.

And.

They range right now from 200,000 up to about 700,000.

Most of the time, you're lucky to see something between 200 and 250,000 pop up.

But.

What you're really looking at is like 400 to 500,000.

And that'll, get you something decent and something place nice to live.

But.

This place gets high marks because it is a beautiful little town.

There's plenty of fishing, hiking, camping.

You're right there next to West Virginia, which is an outdoor paradise.

Overall.

This is one of my favorites on the list and we're not doing this in any special order.

I.

Just really like this one.

Number, two Cape Charles Virginia Cape Charles, is located close to the mouth of the Chesapeake bay on Virginia's Eastern shore.

This place was founded in 1884 as a planned, community.

By guess what a railroad, company, well ferry and railroad company.

This is not a place for people that are looking to retire are on a budget, or let's say you work from home and you you're not killing it in the salary department.

This is not your place.

This place is pricey because it sits on the Chesapeake.

Bay.

They have a golf course, and they have like a marina for your boat, but it is definitely away from any Metro area.

The closest Metro area is about 45 minutes away and you gotta cross the speak bay bridge, tunnel.

And, that's where you'd have to go.

If.

You have to go to a big hospital.

They do have a medical center in town with some doctors and stuff like that, but anything big, you're gonna have to head out to Virginia Beach, which is a little less than an hour.

Away.

This is a nice beach and rural community.

I was watching a video about a guy that lived there and he said that him and his girlfriend at the time they've now been married.

Like 30 years., They came out here for one of her friend's weddings.

And.

It was the first time he'd ever been to Cape Charles.

And.

He was like, we're moving here.

And a few years later.

They did.

And they never left.

I mean.

How could you not wanna live in a place that has an art thing on the coast that just says, love.

Look at that.

They only have around a thousand people living.

He here, and they have a crime rate, that's 54%, lower than the national average and that's outstanding.

So.

They get a thumbs up for that one.

When.

It comes to internet, they're, doing pretty good, especially being this far away from everything.

You can get one gig from Eastern shore of Virginia broadband authority.

And.

They say they cover 95% of the town.

So.

They get a thumbs up for that one.

Now, like I said.

It gets expensive.

And one of the most expensive things here is real estate.

Currently.

They have three things for sale and they're, going $4 million.

But back in February and March.

They did have some homes that were for 300 and 350,000.

But in my opinion, you're gonna need to spend at least 600, 700,000 to get something decent.

Here.

You, just gotta, keep watching and hope something pops up that you kind of like.

So they get a faded thumbs up for real estate, cuz.

They don't have a lot to choose from.

And when they do have something to choose.

It's kind of expensive., All right.

Before we get to number one, don't forget.

Have another channel called on this day.

There's a link down below.

All right on to number one.

And number one, Amherst, Virginia Amherst is a town of about 2,500 that sits about 20 minutes north of Lynchburg, Virginia.

This is a nice place to live if you're into wine or antiques.

Honestly.

If you Google things to do in Amherst, seven of the top 10 things are wine or antiques.

This is a great place for retirees that may need medical specialists.

Amherst has a few doctors in a medical clinic, but Lynchburg is 20 minutes down the road and they'll have everything you need.

They have some really good hospitals that have very high marks.

Yes, I looked it up.

Amherst was actually founded in 1807., Originally was known as the Oaks and then seven Oaks.

And.

It began as a stage coach station for the Charlottesville Lynchburg road.

Finally, a place that didn't start because of a train Amherst like so many other places in Virginia.

Just it's great for people that love the outdoors.

If.

You know anything about the Pacific Northwest.

This part of Virginia kind of reminds me of it, every things green.

And.

It seems like there's a pond or a Creek around every bend.

But like I said.

They got great healthcare.

So.

They get a thumbs up here for that.

Their crime rate is 73% lower than the national average.

So.

They get a big thumbs up for that one.

When.

It comes to their internet, uh, they're, getting a faded, thumbs.

Up.

They have Xfinity one gig, but it only covers about 58% into the town.

They also have another one called CS.

Broadband.

They offer one gig, but that only covers 25% of the town.

They have some other ones that give like 25 MVPs, but that's really not for the greatest.

When.

It comes to real estate.

They get a big thumbs up because they have everything.

They have a few homes for 200,000.

They've got a bunch for between 300 and 450,000.

Of course.

If you want to dump a million and a half on a piece of property, you get 34 acres in a really nice house.

So they're, all over the place.

And.

They got a handful to choose from.

In the last six months, they've sold like eight or under 250,000.

So, they got a price range for just about everyone.

All, right.

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Today's video.

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