Best PlacesShannondale, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shannondale, 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.
Shannondale ranks 20,993rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shannondale
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.
Shannondale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shannondale ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 80% of towns
Where Shannondale ranks low
- Short commute48.2 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shannondale
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shannondale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,696, 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 Shannondale's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shannondale
Shannondale's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Shannondale.
Who works in Shannondale, and how
Work in Shannondale centers on professional & technical and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Shannondale
Shannondale has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Shannondale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Shannondale, month by month
Shannondale sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 76° | 64° |
| October | 71° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Shannondale
Washington Dulles International sits about 26 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 13.9 million passengers in 2025, with 200 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Shannondale
Schools across Shannondale average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wright Denny Intermediate SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Blue Ridge Elementary SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harpers Ferry Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Charles Town Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Washington High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shannondale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shannondale 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 Shannondale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shannondale
Is Shannondale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shannondale ranks 20,993rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, tree cover, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shannondale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $314,148. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $83,696 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Shannondale safe?
Yes, Shannondale is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $137 per resident a year.
Compare Shannondale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shannondale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shannondale 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.
Shannondale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shannondale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shannondale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shannondale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shannondale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shannondale 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.