Best PlacesCool Ridge, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cool Ridge, 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.
Cool Ridge ranks 39,452nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on heat safety.
The best neighborhoods in Cool Ridge
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.
Cool Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cool Ridge ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 73% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 72% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 72% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 62% of towns
Where Cool Ridge ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cool Ridge
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cool Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,583, 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 Cool Ridge's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cool Ridge
Cool Ridge'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 Cool Ridge.
Who works in Cool Ridge, and how
Work in Cool Ridge centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Cool Ridge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cool Ridge.
What the weather is like in Cool Ridge, month by month
Cool Ridge sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Cool Ridge
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 169 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cool Ridge
Schools across Cool Ridge average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ghent ElementaryC+ · 35% proficient
- Shady Spring ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Daniels ElementaryC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shady Spring Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Shady Spring HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cool Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cool Ridge 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 Cool Ridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cool Ridge
Is Cool Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cool Ridge ranks 39,452nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, clean air, and low property taxes, 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 Cool Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $149,249. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $63,583 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Cool Ridge safe?
Cool Ridge is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.
Compare Cool Ridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cool Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cool Ridge 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.
Cool Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cool Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cool Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cool Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cool Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cool Ridge 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.