Best PlacesMount Carbon, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Carbon, 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.
Mount Carbon ranks 46,924th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Health outcomes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Carbon
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.
Mount Carbon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Carbon ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 72% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 71% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 68% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 66% of towns
Where Mount Carbon ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Household income$41,080 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Carbon
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Carbon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $41,080, 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 Mount Carbon's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Mount Carbon
Mount Carbon 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 Mount Carbon.
Who works in Mount Carbon, and how
Work in Mount Carbon centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Mount Carbon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mount Carbon.
What the weather is like in Mount Carbon, month by month
Mount Carbon sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Mount Carbon
The nearest airport, West Virginia International Yeager, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mount Carbon
Schools across Mount Carbon average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Valley Pk-8D− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Riverside High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Oak Hill HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Carbon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Carbon 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 Mount Carbon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mount Carbon
Is Mount Carbon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Carbon ranks 46,924th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, walkability, and an educated workforce, and lowest on health outcomes and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Carbon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,803. The overall cost of living runs about 28% below the national average. Set against a $41,080 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Mount Carbon safe?
Mount Carbon is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $399 per resident a year.
Compare Mount Carbon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Carbon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Carbon 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.
Mount Carbon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Carbon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Carbon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Carbon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Carbon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Carbon 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.