Best PlacesBrooke County, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Brooke County, 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.
Brooke County ranks 1,632nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on health care access.
The best neighborhoods in Brooke 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.
Brooke County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brooke County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 77% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 75% of counties
- TransitBetter than 75% of counties
Where Brooke County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 19% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 25% of counties
- Household income$60,666 median, better than only 28% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Brooke County
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brooke County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,666, 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 Brooke County'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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Brooke County
Brooke 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 Brooke County.
Who works in Brooke County, and how
Work in Brooke County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Brooke County
Brooke County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brooke County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Brooke County growing, and who is moving in?
Brooke County has lost about 9% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Weirton, WV metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Brooke County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Brooke County, month by month
Brooke County sees roughly 72 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 Brooke County
Pittsburgh International sits about 22 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 Brooke County
Schools across Brooke County average a C+, better than 50% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Wells AcademyA+ · 98% proficient
- East Garfield Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- West Liberty Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harding Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Buckeye Local Junior HighB+ · 48% proficient
- Indian Creek Middle School Grades 7 & 8B · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Steubenville High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Avella Area JshsB+ · 57% proficient
- Mcguffey HsC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brooke County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brooke 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 Brooke County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Brooke County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Brooke County
Is Brooke County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brooke County ranks 1,632nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, big-city access, and a stable housing market, and lowest on state infrastructure and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brooke County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $135,703. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $60,666 median income, cost of living beats 41% of counties.
Is Brooke County safe?
Brooke County is safer than 51% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brooke County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 23. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 25% of counties.
Is Brooke County good for families?
Schools beat 50% of counties, crime safety beats 51%, and childcare runs $735 a month.
Compare Brooke County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brooke County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brooke 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.
Brooke County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brooke County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brooke County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brooke County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brooke County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brooke 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.