Best PlacesProspect Valley, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prospect Valley, 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.
Prospect Valley ranks 20,035th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Prospect Valley
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.
Prospect Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Prospect Valley ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Prospect Valley ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prospect Valley
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prospect Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,737, 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 Prospect Valley's effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Prospect Valley
Prospect Valley runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Prospect Valley.
Who works in Prospect Valley, and how
Work in Prospect Valley centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Prospect Valley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Prospect Valley.
What the weather is like in Prospect Valley, month by month
Prospect Valley sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 71° | 57° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Prospect Valley
The nearest airport, North Central West Virginia, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Prospect Valley
Schools across Prospect Valley average a C−, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Big Elm Elementary SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lincoln Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Lincoln High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prospect Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prospect Valley 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 Prospect Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prospect Valley
Is Prospect Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prospect Valley ranks 20,035th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, tree cover, and low disaster risk, and lowest on biking and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Prospect Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $148,012. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $88,737 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Prospect Valley safe?
Yes, Prospect Valley is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $252 per resident a year.
Compare Prospect Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prospect Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prospect Valley 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.
Prospect Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prospect Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prospect Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prospect Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prospect Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prospect Valley 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.