Best PlacesMinden, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Minden, 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.
Minden ranks 32,436th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Minden
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.
Minden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Minden ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute18.5 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
- BikingBetter than 78% of towns
Where Minden ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Minden
A household needs to earn about $16,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Minden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,796, 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 Minden's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Minden
Minden runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Minden.
Who works in Minden, and how
Work in Minden centers on health care & social and other services. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Minden
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Minden.
What the weather is like in Minden, month by month
Minden sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Minden
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 169 miles away.
The best schools in and around Minden
Schools across Minden average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New River IntermediateD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oak Hill Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Oak Hill HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Minden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Minden 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 Minden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Minden
Is Minden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Minden ranks 32,436th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, short commutes, and heat safety, and lowest on civic engagement and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Minden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $62,000. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $67,796 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Minden safe?
Minden is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Minden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Minden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Minden 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.
Minden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Minden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Minden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Minden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Minden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Minden 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.