Best PlacesCheat Lake, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cheat Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cheat Lake ranks 835th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cheat Lake
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.
Cheat Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cheat Lake ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$127,378 median, better than 94% of towns
Where Cheat Lake ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 73 pleasant days a year, better than only 33% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 46% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 55% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cheat Lake
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cheat Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $127,378, 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 Cheat Lake's effective rate of 0.43%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cheat Lake
Cheat Lake's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cheat Lake.
Who works in Cheat Lake, and how
Work in Cheat Lake centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Cheat Lake
Cheat Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Cheat Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cheat Lake, month by month
Cheat Lake sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Cheat Lake
The nearest airport, Morgantown Municipal/Walter L Bill Hart Field, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 61 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cheat Lake
Schools across Cheat Lake average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cheat Lake Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Brookhaven Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Eastwood Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mountaineer Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- South Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Morgantown High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- University High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cheat Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cheat Lake 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 Cheat Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cheat Lake
Is Cheat Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cheat Lake ranks 835th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, what local pay buys, and health care access, and lowest on state infrastructure and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cheat Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $396,303. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $127,378 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Cheat Lake safe?
Yes, Cheat Lake is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $178 per resident a year.
Compare Cheat Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cheat Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cheat Lake 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.
Cheat Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cheat Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cheat Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cheat Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cheat Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cheat Lake 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.