Best Places26576, WV Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 26576, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

26576 ranks 23,823rd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.

#23,823
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 26576

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 26576 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

26576's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 26576 with other zip codes.

Where 26576 ranks high

  • Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than 75% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than 72% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than 71% of zip codes

Where 26576 ranks low

  • State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of zip codes
  • Health outlookBetter than only 3% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 17% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 17% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 26576

A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 26576 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,046, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$29,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$687
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $115,940 home
Median rent
$948
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$591
Property tax$57
Homeowners insurance$39

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 26576's effective rate of 0.59%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 26576

26576 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
54
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
31%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1817%
18 to 3418%
35 to 4916%
50 to 6419%
65 and older31%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 26576.


Who works in 26576, and how

Work in 26576 centers on health care & social and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
7%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.3%
below the national average
Job growth
+5.3%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social18%
Other services15%
Hospitality & food11%
Education11%
Retail trade9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 91%
  • Work from home 7%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 26576

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 26576.


What the weather is like in 26576, month by month

26576 sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January44°33°24°
April69°55°42°
July88°75°64°
October71°57°44°

Flying in and out of 26576

The nearest airport, North Central West Virginia, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 69 miles away.

Nearest airport
CKB
North Central West Virginia, about 14 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
289th-busiest in the US, 7 nonstop destinations
Average drive
20 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 26576

Schools across 26576 average a C, better than 30% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 26576 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


26576 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 26576 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 26576

Is 26576 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 26576 ranks 23,823rd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low disaster risk, and quiet, and lowest on state infrastructure and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 26576 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $115,940. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $60,046 median income, cost of living beats 28% of zip codes.

Is 26576 safe?

26576 is safer than 34% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.


Compare 26576 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 26576. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 26576 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

26576 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 26576: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 26576: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 26576: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 26576: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

26576 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.