Best PlacesBethany, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bethany, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bethany ranks 13,062nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bethany
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.
Bethany's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bethany ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Short commute22.8 minutes each way, better than 76% of towns
Where Bethany ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 73 pleasant days a year, better than only 32% of towns
- Household income$65,818 median, better than only 38% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bethany
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bethany home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,818, 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 Bethany's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bethany
Bethany runs younger 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 Bethany.
Who works in Bethany, and how
Work in Bethany centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Bethany
Bethany has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Bethany and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bethany, month by month
Bethany sees roughly 73 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 Bethany
Pittsburgh International sits about 26 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 Bethany
Schools across Bethany average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Liberty Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Brooke Intermediate School SouthC · 35% proficient
- Warwood SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buckeye Local Junior HighB+ · 48% proficient
- Mcguffey MsC− · 30% proficient
- Brooke Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Avella Area JshsB+ · 57% proficient
- Mcguffey HsC+ · 40% proficient
- Wheeling Park High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bethany school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bethany 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 Bethany against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bethany
Is Bethany a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bethany ranks 13,062nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, walkability, and low disaster risk, and lowest on civic engagement and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bethany expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $152,334. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $65,818 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Bethany safe?
Yes, Bethany is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
Compare Bethany with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bethany. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bethany 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.
Bethany detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bethany: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bethany: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bethany: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bethany: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bethany 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.