Best PlacesLavalette, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lavalette, 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.
Lavalette ranks 19,920th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lavalette
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.
Lavalette's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lavalette ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of towns
- Short commute22.3 minutes each way, better than 78% of towns
Where Lavalette ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 20% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lavalette
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lavalette home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,982, 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 Lavalette's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lavalette
Lavalette 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 Lavalette.
Who works in Lavalette, and how
Work in Lavalette centers on health care & social and wholesale trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lavalette
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lavalette.
What the weather is like in Lavalette, month by month
Lavalette sees roughly 60 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° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Lavalette
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lavalette
Schools across Lavalette average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hite Saunders Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Buffalo Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Lavalette Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buffalo Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Huntington East Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Wayne Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Huntington High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Wayne High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lavalette school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lavalette 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 Lavalette against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lavalette
Is Lavalette a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lavalette ranks 19,920th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and low property taxes, 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 Lavalette expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,659. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $72,982 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Lavalette safe?
Lavalette is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $313 per resident a year.
Compare Lavalette with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lavalette. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lavalette 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.
Lavalette detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lavalette: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lavalette: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lavalette: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lavalette: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lavalette 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.