Best PlacesBolt, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bolt, 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.
Bolt ranks 45,748th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bolt
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.
Bolt's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bolt ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 81% of towns
- QuietBetter than 76% of towns
Where Bolt ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$28,439 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bolt
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bolt home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $28,439, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Bolt's effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Bolt
Bolt 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 Bolt.
Who works in Bolt, and how
Work in Bolt centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Bolt
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bolt.
What the weather is like in Bolt, month by month
Bolt sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 71° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Bolt
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 173 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bolt
Schools across Bolt average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Glen Fork Elementary & Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Fairdale Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Marsh Fork ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Trap Hill Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Liberty High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Westside High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bolt school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bolt 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 Bolt against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bolt
Is Bolt a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bolt ranks 45,748th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, civic engagement, and a strong job market, and lowest on health outcomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bolt expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $174,728. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $28,439 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Bolt safe?
Bolt is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $318 per resident a year.
Compare Bolt with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bolt. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bolt 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.
Bolt detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bolt: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bolt: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bolt: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bolt: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bolt 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.