Best PlacesCold Stream, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cold Stream, 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.
Cold Stream ranks 31,604th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cold Stream
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.
Cold Stream's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cold Stream ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
Where Cold Stream ranks low
- Short commute46.3 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cold Stream
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cold Stream home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,951, 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 Cold Stream's effective rate of 0.35%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cold Stream
Cold Stream runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cold Stream.
Who works in Cold Stream, and how
Work in Cold Stream centers on retail trade and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Cold Stream
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cold Stream.
What the weather is like in Cold Stream, month by month
Cold Stream sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Cold Stream
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cold Stream
Schools across Cold Stream average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Slanesville Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Capon Bridge Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Capon Bridge Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Hampshire Senior High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cold Stream school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cold Stream 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 Cold Stream against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cold Stream
Is Cold Stream a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cold Stream ranks 31,604th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, low property taxes, and quiet, and lowest on long commutes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cold Stream expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $258,009. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $74,951 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Cold Stream safe?
Yes, Cold Stream is safer than 69% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $227 per resident a year.
Compare Cold Stream with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cold Stream. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cold Stream 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.
Cold Stream detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cold Stream: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cold Stream: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cold Stream: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cold Stream: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cold Stream 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.