Best PlacesCapels, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Capels, 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.
Capels ranks 50,278th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Capels
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.
Capels' strengths and weaknesses
Where Capels ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 72% of towns
- Cheap childcare$688 a month, better than 67% of towns
Where Capels ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute45.4 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Capels
A household needs to earn about $13,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Capels home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $30,556, 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 Capels' effective rate of 0.41%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Capels
Capels runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Capels.
Who works in Capels, and how
Work in Capels centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Capels
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Capels.
What the weather is like in Capels, month by month
Capels sees roughly 82 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 Capels
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Capels
Schools across Capels average a D, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fall River Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Southside K-8D− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sandy River Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount View High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- River View High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Capels school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Capels 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 Capels against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Capels
Is Capels a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Capels ranks 50,278th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on health outcomes and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Capels expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $53,800. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $30,556 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Capels safe?
Capels is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $762 per resident a year.
Compare Capels with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Capels. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Capels 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.
Capels detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Capels: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Capels: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Capels: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Capels: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Capels 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.