These Are The 10 Most Boring Places In Virginia

Alright, let’s be honest; when it comes to finding an exciting place to live in the U.S., certain states (Washington! California! Colorado!) are flat out superior to others (Indiana…). But hey, we don’t want to point fingers—aside from the ones we just pointed. We’re here to bring you both the good and the bad, the exciting and the boring because as we know, no matter how exciting your state is, there are bound to be some boring places within its borders. Like Danville, for instance. In the latest super scientific analysis here at the Movoto Real Estate blog, we found that this city was the very most boring in all of Virginia. But don’t feel bad Danville residents. There were plenty of other incredibly dull places in Virginia as well. Here they are. Try to contain your excitement. 1. City of Danville
2. CDP of South Riding (tie)
2. CDP of Short Pump (tie)
4. City of Suffolk
5. CDP of West Springfield
6. City of Chesapeake
7. CDP of Lake Ridge
8. CDP of Dale City
9. CDP of Mechanicsville
10. CDP of Burke
Before you get all excited here, calm down. We didn’t pick these 10 boring places out of a hat—we let the magic of numbers do the work for us. So without further ado, let’s find out more about the method behind this madness.

How We Created This Ranking

Like most of our other Big Deal Lists, we began this journey to the most mind-numbing places in Virginia by paying a visit to the U.S. Census—which isn’t exactly a wealth of excitement in itself. There, we gathered up all of the places in the state with populations of 20,000 or more, which gave us a total of 46 spots. Then, we used the Census and various business listings to research each place in each of the following categories:

• Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)
• Live music venues per capita
• Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)
• Arts and Entertainment per capita (movie theaters, festivals, galleries, theaters, etc.)
• Fast Food restaurants per capita (the more the more boring)
• Percentage of restaurants that are not fast food (the lower the more boring)
• Percentage of young residents ages 18 to 34 (the lower the more boring)
• Population density (the lower the better)

Next, we ranked each place with a score from one to 46, according to the eight criteria above. The lower the number, the more boring the place. We averaged these rankings into an overall Big Deal Score, where again, the lowest score was the most boring, least fun, mind-numbing, however else you’d like to say it, flat out dull place. Congratulations, Danville! If you haven’t dozed off by now in sheer anticipation of learning more about these 10 places, you can hop down to the bottom of the post for a look at the top 50 most boring places. Otherwise, grab some coffee and a few Red Bulls. Here we go.

1. Danville

Ah yes, the River City, Where Innovation Flows… and apparently fun comes to die. What exactly makes this city so dull? Take your pick. First off, it’s the third least densely populated place in the state, so if you’re hoping to run into somebody while you’re out walking from bar to bar, or restaurant to restaurant… Oh, just kidding, Danville doesn’t really have many of those either. So what is there to do in Danville? Well with the 12th most fast food joints per person, you could always make a night out of it at Micky D’s.

2. South Riding

South Riding may be wealthy (like, really wealthy—the median household income here is about $140,000), but as the old saying goes, money can’t buy you… excitement. Actually, it kind of can. So why isn’t South Riding more fun? Perhaps it’s because only 18.5 percent of residents are between the ages of 18 and 34. Or maybe it has a little something to do with the fact that South Riding has some of the fewest music venues and even active life options per person in the state. Not to mention the sixth fewest nightlife options, the fourth fewest arts, the fifth fewest restaurants… But hey, at least it also has a serious lack of fast food!

2. Short Pump

No offense, but when a shopping mall is your community’s big claim to fame, well, that’s a pretty good indicator of its level of excitement. No, we’re kidding. Short Pump has all sorts of things besides the Short Pump Town Center! You could go to a bar—though Short Pump does have some of the fewest per person… Or you could hit up some live music—again, good luck finding any. How about some fine arts or delicious dining, with the fifth and sixth fewest per capita in the state…? Ah, well. At least it has a bowling alley.

4. Suffolk

Fun fact! Suffolk is the largest city in Virginia by land area! Other fun fact: that doesn’t mean that it’s packed with people. In fact, the roughly 85,000 residents of this city are more spread out than in any other place in our analysis, meaning, not much chance to walk from place to place. Though we’re not sure you’d really want to. There are fewer nightlife options here than in 37 other places we looked at, it has the 10th fewest arts listings, and, to top it off, it has some of the fewest active life options per person. Though on the plus side, with so few active life options, you’d more than get your workout in just walking from one place to another!

5. West Springfield

This little Fairfax County community is pretty much your standard, adorable, family-friendly, but terribly dull, perfect place to settle down and raise some kids. Which is a huge adventure on its own, to be sure. It’s just not the kind of excitement we’re talking about here. To be more specific, West Springfield had a serious lack of music and arts (as in, practically nothing), had the second fewest active life listings, and even had a pretty sad variety of dining options. I mean, how many times in one week can you go to Ledo Pizza? (Answer: 22.)

6. Chesapeake

Unfortunately, this is the second time we’ve given Chesapeake a Most Boring Award—the first time being in this list where Chesapeake was named the third most boring large city in America. The reason—okay, reasons—Chesapeake ranked so high in both of our analysis was simply a lack of, well, fun. Said fun includes things like music venues and arts per capita, plus a serious lack of both young people and just people in general. Okay, okay, it has a population of over 220,000, but it’s also the second least densely-populated place in the state. So even though there are technically plenty of people, they’re so spread out, it may not feel like it.

7. Lake Ridge

Located in Prince William County, Lake Ridge has all of the makings of… well, just another small community in Virginia. It has a serious lack of both nightlife and music venues, it has the second fewest non-boring (non-fast food) restaurants, and it has the third fewest arts listings per person. The only thing Lake Ridge seems to really have going on is a pretty densely-packed population, with 4,390 people per square mile… but when under 23 percent of those people are between 18 and 34, if you’re young, this may not be that much of a selling point.

8. Dale City

This place is awesome! It is packed with bars, live music, some of the finest gyms for miles, and of course, more types of delicious than you can begin to imagine. It’s— What? Oh, Dale City? Sorry, thought we were talking about Washington, D.C. for a minute. Well, the good news is D.C. is just a short drive away from Dale City; the bad news, if you want to enjoy any of those amenities, you will have to make that drive. Dale City has almost a complete lack of a nightlife of its own, has some of the fewest active life options, and has the second fewest restaurants per person in the state. So… hope you’re ready to commute!

9. Mechanicsville

I know what you’re thinking: How could the birthplace of Jason Mraz, writer of such exciting hits as “The Remedy” and “I’m Yours,” be boring? Glad you asked. It’s mostly because this place has so few young people—just 17.94 percent of residents are between the ages of 18 and 34—and even they’re more spread out than in most places in the state—just 1,284 people per square mile.

10. Burke

Congratulations, Burke! You barely made the cut, but due to your underwhelming presence of nightlife venues (the seventh fewest per capita), restaurants (also the seventh fewest), and arts (the ninth fewest), you secured yourself the No. 10 spot. The thing that really pushed this city into the top 10, though, was its lack of a young population—just 17.17 percent of residents are between the ages of 18 and 34. Another way to put it—it’s the second oldest place in the state (just after McLean).

But Wait, There’s More!

As we mentioned in the beginning, there are certain states that are flat out more exciting than others. On the other side of the coin, that means, of course, some states are more boring. Luckily, Virginia as a whole isn’t one of these dull states. There are plenty of exciting places here too—today we just happened to focus on the 10 least entertaining of the bunch. Of course if a little peace and quiet is what you’re after, these 10 places might just be your perfect match. No matter what you’re looking for, though, we’d be happy to help you find it.