Best PlacesMontcalm, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Montcalm, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Montcalm ranks 20,271st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on fast internet.
The best neighborhoods in Montcalm
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.
Montcalm's strengths and weaknesses
Where Montcalm ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 75% of towns
- Short commute23.5 minutes each way, better than 72% of towns
Where Montcalm ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Montcalm
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montcalm home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,548, 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 Montcalm's effective rate of 0.52%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Montcalm
Montcalm runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Montcalm.
Who works in Montcalm, and how
Work in Montcalm centers on other services 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 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Montcalm
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Montcalm.
What the weather is like in Montcalm, month by month
Montcalm sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Montcalm
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Montcalm
Schools across Montcalm average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Montcalm Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Montcalm High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montcalm school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montcalm 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 Montcalm against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Montcalm
Is Montcalm a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montcalm ranks 20,271st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, low crime, and heat safety, and lowest on state infrastructure 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 Montcalm expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $176,500. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $76,548 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Montcalm safe?
Yes, Montcalm is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $180 per resident a year.
Compare Montcalm with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montcalm. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montcalm 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.
Montcalm detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montcalm: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montcalm: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montcalm: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montcalm: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montcalm 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.