Best PlacesHometown, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hometown, 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.
Hometown ranks 25,014th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hometown
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.
Hometown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hometown ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 76% of towns
Where Hometown ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of towns
- Short commute32.5 minutes each way, better than only 22% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hometown
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hometown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,650, 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 Hometown's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Hometown
Hometown 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 Hometown.
Who works in Hometown, and how
Work in Hometown centers on health care & social and admin & support services. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hometown
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hometown.
What the weather is like in Hometown, month by month
Hometown sees roughly 58 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 Hometown
The nearest airport, West Virginia International Yeager, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hometown
Schools across Hometown average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hometown ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Winfield Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Winfield High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hometown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hometown 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 Hometown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hometown
Is Hometown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hometown ranks 25,014th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, fast internet, and low disaster risk, 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 Hometown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,258. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $72,650 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Hometown safe?
Yes, Hometown is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
Compare Hometown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hometown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hometown 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.
Hometown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hometown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hometown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hometown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hometown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hometown 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.