Best PlacesMargaret, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Margaret, 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.
Margaret ranks 36,067th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Margaret
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.
Margaret's strengths and weaknesses
Where Margaret ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 77% of towns
Where Margaret ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Margaret
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Margaret home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,674, 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 Margaret's effective rate of 0.54%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Margaret
Margaret runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Margaret.
Who works in Margaret, and how
Work in Margaret centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Margaret
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Margaret.
What the weather is like in Margaret, month by month
Margaret sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 71° | 57° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Margaret
The nearest airport, North Central West Virginia, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Margaret
Schools across Margaret average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Big Elm Elementary SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mannington Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Lincoln Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- North Marion High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Lincoln High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Margaret school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Margaret 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 Margaret against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Margaret
Is Margaret a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Margaret ranks 36,067th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and quiet, and lowest on cell coverage 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 Margaret expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,230. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $64,674 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Margaret safe?
Yes, Margaret is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $192 per resident a year.
Compare Margaret with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Margaret. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Margaret 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.
Margaret detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Margaret: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Margaret: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Margaret: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Margaret: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Margaret 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.