Best PlacesCarolina, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carolina, 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.
Carolina ranks 28,809th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on short commutes.
The best neighborhoods in Carolina
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.
Carolina's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carolina ranks high
- Short commute20.3 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 80% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 65% of towns
Where Carolina ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 23% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carolina
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carolina home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,774, 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 Carolina's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carolina
Carolina 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 Carolina.
Who works in Carolina, and how
Work in Carolina centers on other services and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Carolina
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carolina.
What the weather is like in Carolina, month by month
Carolina sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 71° | 57° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Carolina
The nearest airport, North Central West Virginia, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carolina
Schools across Carolina average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monongah Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Monongah Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- North Marion High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carolina school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carolina 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 Carolina against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carolina
Is Carolina a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carolina ranks 28,809th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, low disaster risk, 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 Carolina expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $118,385. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $66,774 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Carolina safe?
Carolina is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $382 per resident a year.
Compare Carolina with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carolina. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carolina 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.
Carolina detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carolina: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carolina: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carolina: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carolina: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carolina 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.