Best PlacesHarper, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harper, 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.
Harper ranks 33,671st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Harper
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.
Harper's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harper ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 82% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 77% of towns
Where Harper ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harper
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harper home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,848, 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 Harper's effective rate of 0.33%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Harper
Harper's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Harper.
Who works in Harper, and how
Work in Harper centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Harper
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harper.
What the weather is like in Harper, month by month
Harper sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 20° |
| April | 68° | 52° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 70° | 54° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Harper
The nearest airport, Shenandoah Valley Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harper
Schools across Harper average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Fork Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Franklin Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Pendleton County Middle/high SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harper school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harper 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 Harper against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harper
Is Harper a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harper ranks 33,671st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and civic engagement, and lowest on biking and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harper expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,100. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $66,848 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Harper safe?
Harper is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $289 per resident a year.
Compare Harper with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harper. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harper 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.
Harper detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harper: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harper: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harper: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harper: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harper 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.