Best PlacesBayard, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bayard, 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.
Bayard ranks 41,608th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bayard
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.
Bayard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bayard ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 112 pleasant days a year, better than 76% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 75% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of towns
Where Bayard ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$32,500 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bayard
A household needs to earn about $20,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bayard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $32,500, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Bayard's effective rate of 0.23%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Bayard
Bayard runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bayard.
Who works in Bayard, and how
Work in Bayard centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bayard
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bayard.
What the weather is like in Bayard, month by month
Bayard sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 76° | 66° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Bayard
The nearest airport, Morgantown Municipal/Walter L Bill Hart Field, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bayard
Schools across Bayard average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top high schools
- Union Educational ComplexC− · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bayard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bayard 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 Bayard against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bayard
Is Bayard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bayard ranks 41,608th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, heat safety, and the weather, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bayard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $82,400. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $32,500 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Bayard safe?
Bayard is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.
Compare Bayard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bayard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bayard 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.
Bayard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bayard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bayard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bayard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bayard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bayard detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.