Best PlacesLost City, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lost City, 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.
Lost City ranks 33,961st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lost City
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.
Lost City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lost City ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of towns
Where Lost City ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute40.9 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lost City
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lost City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,779, 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 Lost City's effective rate of 0.19%, 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 Lost City
Lost City 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 Lost City.
Who works in Lost City, and how
Work in Lost City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Lost City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lost City.
What the weather is like in Lost City, month by month
Lost City sees roughly 79 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 Lost City
The nearest airport, Shenandoah Valley Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lost City
Schools across Lost City average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- East Hardy Early/middle SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- East Hardy High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lost City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lost City 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 Lost City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lost City
Is Lost City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lost City ranks 33,961st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on health outcomes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lost City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $167,534. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $69,779 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Lost City safe?
Yes, Lost City is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $175 per resident a year.
Compare Lost City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lost City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lost City 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.
Lost City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lost City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lost City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lost City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lost City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lost City 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.