Best PlacesFairlea, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fairlea, 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.
Fairlea ranks 42,517th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fairlea
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.
Fairlea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fairlea ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
Where Fairlea ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$33,462 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fairlea
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairlea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $33,462, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Fairlea's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 Fairlea
Fairlea 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 Fairlea.
Who works in Fairlea, and how
Work in Fairlea centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Fairlea
Fairlea has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Fairlea and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fairlea, month by month
Fairlea sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Fairlea
The nearest airport, Greenbrier Valley, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 161 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fairlea
Schools across Fairlea average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lewisburg ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Ronceverte ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Eastern Greenbrier Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Greenbrier East High SchoolC · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairlea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairlea 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 Fairlea against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fairlea
Is Fairlea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairlea ranks 42,517th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, walkability, and short commutes, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fairlea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $154,929. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $33,462 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Fairlea safe?
Fairlea is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $441 per resident a year.
Compare Fairlea with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairlea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairlea 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.
Fairlea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairlea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairlea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairlea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairlea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairlea 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.