Best PlacesLaurel Dale, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Laurel Dale, 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.
Laurel Dale ranks 24,149th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Laurel Dale
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.
Laurel Dale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Laurel Dale ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Laurel Dale ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
- Short commute35.3 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 13% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Laurel Dale
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Laurel Dale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,109, 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 Laurel Dale's effective rate of 0.30%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Laurel Dale
Laurel Dale runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Laurel Dale.
Who works in Laurel Dale, and how
Work in Laurel Dale centers on construction and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Laurel Dale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Laurel Dale.
What the weather is like in Laurel Dale, month by month
Laurel Dale sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Laurel Dale
The nearest airport, Morgantown Municipal/Walter L Bill Hart Field, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 91 miles away.
The best schools in and around Laurel Dale
Schools across Laurel Dale average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Maysville Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- New Creek Primary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Elk Garden SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- Keyser Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Petersburg High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Keyser High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Laurel Dale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Laurel Dale 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 Laurel Dale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Laurel Dale
Is Laurel Dale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Laurel Dale ranks 24,149th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, tree cover, and low crime, and lowest on state infrastructure and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Laurel Dale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,800. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $80,109 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Laurel Dale safe?
Yes, Laurel Dale is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $184 per resident a year.
Compare Laurel Dale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Laurel Dale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Laurel Dale 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.
Laurel Dale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Laurel Dale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Laurel Dale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Laurel Dale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Laurel Dale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Laurel Dale 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.