Best PlacesParkersburg, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Parkersburg metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Josh Stapler from Charleston, United States, CC BY 2.0, via commons
Parkersburg ranks 254th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on health outcomes and state infrastructure. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Parkersburg 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 Parkersburg
The towns and districts of the Parkersburg 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.
Williamstown
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Vienna
Fewer homes sit empty, though tree cover is thinner.
Washington
It is quieter and crime runs lower.
Downtown Parkersburg
Streets are more walkable, though fewer residents vote.
Mineralwells
Fewer households have young kids.
Davisville & Elizabeth
Advertised internet is slower and commutes are longer.
Parkersburg shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Parkersburg's strengths and weaknesses
Parkersburg lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk, a stable housing market, and fast internet carry most of that.
The one real hole is health outcomes, near the bottom of the country. State infrastructure and low incomes 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 Parkersburg ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of metro areas
Where Parkersburg ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Household income$61,197 median, better than only 3% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 11% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Parkersburg
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Parkersburg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,197, 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 Parkersburg's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Parkersburg
Parkersburg 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 Parkersburg.
Who works in Parkersburg, and how
Work in Parkersburg centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Parkersburg
Parkersburg has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 83% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Parkersburg and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Parkersburg growing, and who is moving in?
Parkersburg has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Washington County, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Parkersburg go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Parkersburg, month by month
Parkersburg sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 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 | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 71° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Parkersburg
The nearest airport, Mid-Ohio Valley Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Parkersburg
Schools across Parkersburg average a C+, better than 44% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Greenmont Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Williamstown Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Blennerhassett Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jackson Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Hamilton Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Edison Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Williamstown High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Parkersburg High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Parkersburg South High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Parkersburg school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Parkersburg 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 Parkersburg against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Parkersburg suits
Families
Schools land around the 44th percentile and crime safety beats 78%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Parkersburg
Is Parkersburg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Parkersburg ranks 254th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low disaster risk, a stable housing market, and fast internet, and lowest on health outcomes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Parkersburg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,619. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $61,197 median income, cost of living beats 15% of metro areas.
Is Parkersburg safe?
Yes, Parkersburg is safer than 78% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $260 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Parkersburg?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 24. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Parkersburg?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Williamstown, Vienna, and Washington. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Parkersburg good for families?
Schools beat 44% of metro areas, crime safety beats 78%, and childcare runs $765 a month.
Is Parkersburg good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 15% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 89% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Parkersburg with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Parkersburg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Parkersburg 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.
Parkersburg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Parkersburg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Parkersburg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Parkersburg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Parkersburg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Parkersburg 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.