Best PlacesDaniels, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Daniels, 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.
Daniels ranks 18,784th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on fast internet.
The best neighborhoods in Daniels
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.
Daniels' strengths and weaknesses
Where Daniels ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 83% of towns
Where Daniels ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 17% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 42% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Daniels
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Daniels home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,426, 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 Daniels' effective rate of 0.45%, 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 Daniels
Daniels 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 Daniels.
Who works in Daniels, and how
Work in Daniels centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Daniels
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Daniels.
What the weather is like in Daniels, month by month
Daniels 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 Daniels
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 174 miles away.
The best schools in and around Daniels
Schools across Daniels average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- 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 Daniels school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Daniels 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 Daniels against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Daniels
Is Daniels a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Daniels ranks 18,784th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, heat safety, and low disaster risk, and lowest on state infrastructure and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Daniels expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,367. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $71,426 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Daniels safe?
Yes, Daniels is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $228 per resident a year.
Compare Daniels with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Daniels. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Daniels 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.
Daniels detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Daniels: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Daniels: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Daniels: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Daniels: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Daniels 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.