Best PlacesBeards Fork, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Beards Fork, 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.
Beards Fork ranks 49,809th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Beards Fork
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.
Beards Fork's strengths and weaknesses
Where Beards Fork ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute20.7 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 68% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 66% of towns
Where Beards Fork ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$41,080 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Beards Fork
A household needs to earn about $16,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Beards Fork home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $41,080, 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 Beards Fork's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Beards Fork
Beards Fork runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Beards Fork.
Who works in Beards Fork, and how
Work in Beards Fork centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 30%
Life in Beards Fork
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Beards Fork.
What the weather is like in Beards Fork, month by month
Beards Fork sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Beards Fork
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 161 miles away.
The best schools in and around Beards Fork
Schools across Beards Fork average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New River IntermediateD · 17% proficient
- Fayetteville Pk-8D− · 15% proficient
- Valley Pk-8D− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oak Hill Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Oak Hill HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Beards Fork school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Beards Fork 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 Beards Fork against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Beards Fork
Is Beards Fork a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Beards Fork ranks 49,809th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, short commutes, and heat safety, and lowest on a weak job market and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Beards Fork expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $64,900. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $41,080 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Beards Fork safe?
Beards Fork is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $471 per resident a year.
Compare Beards Fork with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Beards Fork. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Beards Fork 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.
Beards Fork detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Beards Fork: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Beards Fork: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Beards Fork: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Beards Fork: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Beards Fork 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.