Best PlacesElkhorn, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elkhorn, 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.
Elkhorn ranks 49,943rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Elkhorn
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.
Elkhorn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elkhorn ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap childcare$688 a month, better than 67% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 99 pleasant days a year, better than 67% of towns
Where Elkhorn ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elkhorn
A household needs to earn about $10,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elkhorn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,962, 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 Elkhorn's effective rate of 0.42%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Elkhorn
Elkhorn runs older than the country, 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 Elkhorn.
Who works in Elkhorn, and how
Work in Elkhorn centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Elkhorn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Elkhorn.
What the weather is like in Elkhorn, month by month
Elkhorn sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Elkhorn
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 153 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elkhorn
Schools across Elkhorn average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Herndon Cons Elementary & Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Kimball Elementary SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount View High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Montcalm High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elkhorn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elkhorn 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 Elkhorn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elkhorn
Is Elkhorn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elkhorn ranks 49,943rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on health outcomes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elkhorn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $41,800. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $45,962 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Elkhorn safe?
Elkhorn is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $757 per resident a year.
Compare Elkhorn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elkhorn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elkhorn 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.
Elkhorn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elkhorn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elkhorn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elkhorn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elkhorn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elkhorn 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.