Best PlacesCabell County, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cabell 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.
Cabell County ranks 1,933rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cabell 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 Cabell County
The parts of Cabell 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.
Milton, Ona & Lesage
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Barboursville & Salt Rock
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Huntington
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Scores across Cabell County run from about the 4th to the 87th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cabell County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cabell County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 79% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 76% of counties
Where Cabell County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 8% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cabell County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cabell County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,050, 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 Cabell County's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cabell County
Cabell County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Cabell County.
Who works in Cabell County, and how
Work in Cabell County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Cabell County
Cabell County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of counties and more parkland per resident than 74% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cabell County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cabell County growing, and who is moving in?
Cabell County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Huntington, WV metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cabell County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cabell County, month by month
Cabell County sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Cabell County
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cabell County
Schools across Cabell County average a C, better than 38% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Culloden Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Hite Saunders Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Nichols Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barboursville Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Milton Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Huntington Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Cabell Midland High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Huntington High SchoolC · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cabell County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cabell 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 Cabell County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cabell County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Cabell County
Is Cabell County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cabell County ranks 1,933rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, fast internet, and walkability, and lowest on state infrastructure and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cabell County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $165,025. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $61,050 median income, cost of living beats 40% of counties.
Is Cabell County safe?
Cabell County is safer than 40% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cabell County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 26. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cabell County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Milton, Ona & Lesage, Barboursville & Salt Rock, and Huntington. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Cabell County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cabell County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cabell 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.
Cabell County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cabell County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cabell County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cabell County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cabell County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cabell 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.