Best PlacesLobata, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lobata, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lobata ranks 48,564th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lobata
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.
Lobata's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lobata ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of towns
Where Lobata ranks low
- Short commute63.3 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lobata
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lobata home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,577, 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 Lobata's effective rate of 0.36%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Lobata
Lobata runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lobata.
Who works in Lobata, and how
Work in Lobata centers on mining & oil & gas and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Lobata
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lobata.
What the weather is like in Lobata, month by month
Lobata sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Lobata
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 172 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lobata
Schools across Lobata average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Matewan Pk8C− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Mingo Central Comprehensive High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lobata school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lobata 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 Lobata against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lobata
Is Lobata a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lobata ranks 48,564th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on long commutes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lobata expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $92,681. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $63,577 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Lobata safe?
Lobata is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $341 per resident a year.
Compare Lobata with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lobata. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lobata 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.
Lobata detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lobata: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lobata: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lobata: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lobata: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lobata 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.