Best PlacesCross Lanes, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cross Lanes, 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.
Cross Lanes ranks 18,957th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Cross Lanes
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.
Cross Lanes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Cross Lanes ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of towns
Where Cross Lanes ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 32% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 33% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cross Lanes
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cross Lanes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,786, 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 Cross Lanes' effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Cross Lanes
Cross Lanes 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 Cross Lanes.
Who works in Cross Lanes, and how
Work in Cross Lanes centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cross Lanes
Cross Lanes has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Cross Lanes and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cross Lanes, month by month
Cross Lanes sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Cross Lanes
The nearest airport, West Virginia International Yeager, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cross Lanes
Schools across Cross Lanes average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rock Branch ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Cross Lanes Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Point Harmony Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Andrew Jackson Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Poca Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Nitro High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Poca High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cross Lanes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cross Lanes 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 Cross Lanes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cross Lanes
Is Cross Lanes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cross Lanes ranks 18,957th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, low disaster risk, and an educated workforce, and lowest on state infrastructure and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cross Lanes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,567. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $71,786 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Cross Lanes safe?
Cross Lanes is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $274 per resident a year.
Compare Cross Lanes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cross Lanes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cross Lanes 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.
Cross Lanes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cross Lanes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cross Lanes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cross Lanes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cross Lanes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cross Lanes 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.