Best PlacesKanawha County, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Kanawha County, 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.
Kanawha County ranks 1,825th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on fast internet and low disaster risk. The weaker spots are state infrastructure, the weather, and health outcomes.
The best neighborhoods in Kanawha County
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.
The best areas in Kanawha County
The parts of Kanawha County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Dunbar, South Charleston & Upper Falls
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Charleston
Fewer households have young kids and it is noisier.
St. Albans, Cross Lanes & Nitro
Tree cover is thinner and local pay stretches less far.
Elkview, Clendenin & Pinch
Fewer adults hold degrees and streets are more car-dependent.
Sissonville
Incomes run lower and biking is worse.
Belle
Homes cost less, though crime runs higher.
Kanawha County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Kanawha County's strengths and weaknesses
Kanawha County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet, low disaster risk, and tree cover are the strongest pieces, though none of them is exceptional.
The one real hole is state infrastructure, near the bottom of the country. The weather and health outcomes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Kanawha County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 78% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 77% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 69% of counties
Where Kanawha County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Kanawha County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kanawha County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,001, 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 Kanawha County's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Kanawha County
Kanawha County 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 Kanawha County.
Who works in Kanawha County, and how
Work in Kanawha County 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 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Kanawha County
Kanawha County has more parkland per resident than 66% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 85% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kanawha County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Kanawha County growing, and who is moving in?
Kanawha County has lost about 9% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Huntington, WV.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Kanawha County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Kanawha County, month by month
Kanawha County sees roughly 59 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 Kanawha County
The nearest airport, West Virginia International Yeager, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kanawha County
Schools across Kanawha County average a C, better than 30% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kenna Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Holz Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Weberwood Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- John Adams Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Horace Mann Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Sissonville Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- George Washington High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Herbert Hoover High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Saint Albans High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kanawha County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kanawha County 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 Kanawha County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Kanawha County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Kanawha County
Is Kanawha County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kanawha County ranks 1,825th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, low disaster risk, and tree cover, 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 Kanawha County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,665. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $67,001 median income, cost of living beats 69% of counties.
Is Kanawha County safe?
Kanawha County is safer than 36% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $361 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kanawha County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 26. That works out to about 59 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Kanawha County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Dunbar, South Charleston & Upper Falls, Charleston, and St. Albans, Cross Lanes & Nitro. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Kanawha County good for families?
Schools beat 30% of counties, crime safety beats 36%, and childcare runs $747 a month.
Is Kanawha County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 69% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 83% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Kanawha County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kanawha County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kanawha County 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.
Kanawha County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kanawha County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kanawha County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kanawha County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kanawha County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kanawha County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.