Best PlacesPence Springs, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pence Springs, 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.
Pence Springs ranks 44,531st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The cost of living against local pay pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Pence Springs
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.
Pence Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Pence Springs ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 70% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 59% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 59% of towns
Where Pence Springs ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$34,182 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pence Springs
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pence Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $34,182, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Pence Springs' effective rate of 0.38%, 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 Pence Springs
Pence Springs 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 Pence Springs.
Who works in Pence Springs, and how
Work in Pence Springs centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Pence Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pence Springs.
What the weather is like in Pence Springs, month by month
Pence Springs sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Pence Springs
The nearest airport, Greenbrier Valley, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 164 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pence Springs
Schools across Pence Springs average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain View Elementary & Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Talcott Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Alderson ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pence Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pence Springs 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 Pence Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pence Springs
Is Pence Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pence Springs ranks 44,531st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, low crime, and clean air, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pence Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $220,193. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $34,182 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Pence Springs safe?
Yes, Pence Springs is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $212 per resident a year.
Compare Pence Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pence Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pence Springs 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.
Pence Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pence Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pence Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pence Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pence Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pence Springs 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.