Best PlacesBelmont County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Belmont County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Belmont County ranks 1,383rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Belmont County
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.
The best areas in Belmont County
The parts of Belmont County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
St. Clairsville
Local pay stretches further, crime runs lower, and fewer homes sit empty.
Shadyside
More households have young kids, though it is noisier.
Barnesville
Tree cover is thicker, though commutes are longer.
Martins Ferry
Streets are more walkable, though incomes run lower.
Bellaire & Bridgeport
Homes cost less, though schools score lower.
Belmont County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 10%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Belmont County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Belmont County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 82% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 77% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 76% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 75% of counties
Where Belmont County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 25% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 28% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Belmont County
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Belmont County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,496, 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 Belmont County's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Belmont County
Belmont County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Belmont County.
Who works in Belmont County, and how
Work in Belmont County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Belmont County
Belmont County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Belmont County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Belmont County growing, and who is moving in?
Belmont County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Wheeling, WV metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Belmont County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Belmont County, month by month
Belmont County sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Belmont County
Pittsburgh International sits about 47 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.8 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Belmont County
Schools across Belmont County average a B+, better than 82% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- St Clairsville Elementary SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Leona Ave Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Barnesville Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- St Clairsville Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Barnesville Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Union Local Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- St Clairsville High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Barnesville High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Union Local High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Belmont County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Belmont County 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 Belmont County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Belmont County suits
Common questions about living in Belmont County
Is Belmont County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Belmont County ranks 1,383rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and low taxes, and lowest on childcare costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Belmont County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $168,813. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $65,496 median income, cost of living beats 46% of counties.
Is Belmont County safe?
Belmont County is safer than 48% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $321 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Belmont County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 23. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Belmont County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are St. Clairsville, Shadyside, and Barnesville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Belmont County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Belmont County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Belmont County 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.
Belmont County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Belmont County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Belmont County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Belmont County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Belmont County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Belmont County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.