Best PlacesMorgantown, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Morgantown metro, 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.
Photo by Stryker33, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Morgantown ranks 154th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low disaster risk and tree cover. The weaker spots are state infrastructure, civic engagement, and empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in the Morgantown metro
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.
The best areas in Morgantown
The towns and districts of the Morgantown metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Cheat Lake
More adults hold degrees, schools score higher, and health outcomes score higher.
Downtown Morgantown
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Westover
Commutes are shorter, though fewer households have young kids.
Independence
Tree cover is thicker and fewer homes sit empty.
Kingwood, Terra Alta & Tunnelton
Homes cost less, though advertised internet is slower.
Bruceton Mills
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Morgantown shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 12% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Morgantown's strengths and weaknesses
Morgantown lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk, tree cover, and an educated workforce carry most of that.
The one real hole is state infrastructure, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and empty homes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Morgantown ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of metro areas
Where Morgantown ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 23% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 23% of metro areas
- Household income$71,787 median, better than only 27% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Morgantown
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morgantown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,787, 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 Morgantown's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Morgantown
Morgantown runs younger 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 Morgantown.
Who works in Morgantown, and how
Work in Morgantown centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Morgantown
Morgantown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 66% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Morgantown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Morgantown growing, and who is moving in?
Morgantown has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Washington, DC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Morgantown go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Morgantown, month by month
Morgantown sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Morgantown
The nearest airport, Morgantown Municipal/Walter L Bill Hart Field, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 61 miles away.
The best schools in and around Morgantown
Schools across Morgantown average a B−, better than 58% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Cheat Lake Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- North Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Ridgedale Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mountaineer Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Suncrest Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- South Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Morgantown High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- University High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Morgantown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morgantown 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 Morgantown against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Morgantown suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Morgantown
Is Morgantown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morgantown ranks 154th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low disaster risk, tree cover, and an educated workforce, and lowest on state infrastructure and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Morgantown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,453. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $71,787 median income, cost of living beats 38% of metro areas.
Is Morgantown safe?
Yes, Morgantown is safer than 79% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $255 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Morgantown?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 24. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 34% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Morgantown?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cheat Lake, Downtown Morgantown, and Westover. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Morgantown good for families?
Schools beat 58% of metro areas, crime safety beats 79%, and childcare runs $759 a month.
Is Morgantown good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 38% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 67% of metro areas. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Morgantown with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morgantown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morgantown 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.
Morgantown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morgantown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morgantown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morgantown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morgantown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morgantown 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.