Best PlacesCopen, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Copen, 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.
Copen ranks 50,032nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Copen
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.
Copen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Copen ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of towns
Where Copen ranks low
- Short commute56.4 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$37,988 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Copen
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Copen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $37,988, 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 Copen'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Copen
Copen runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Copen.
Who works in Copen, and how
Work in Copen centers on admin & support services and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Copen
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Copen.
What the weather is like in Copen, month by month
Copen sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Copen
The nearest airport, North Central West Virginia, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 118 miles away.
The best schools in and around Copen
Schools across Copen average a D+, better than 11% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Davis Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Flatwoods Elementary SchoolD− · 12% proficient
- Burnsville Elementary SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top middle schools
- Braxton County Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Gilmer County High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Braxton County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Copen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Copen 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 Copen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Copen
Is Copen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Copen ranks 50,032nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, a strong job market, and low property taxes, and lowest on long commutes and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Copen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $105,798. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $37,988 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Copen safe?
Copen is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $519 per resident a year.
Compare Copen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Copen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Copen 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.
Copen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Copen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Copen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Copen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Copen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Copen 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.