Best PlacesSummersville, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Summersville, 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.
Summersville ranks 24,056th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Summersville
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.
Summersville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Summersville ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 83% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 78% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where Summersville ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 11% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 13% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Summersville
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Summersville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,471, 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 Summersville's effective rate of 0.45%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Summersville
Summersville runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Summersville.
Who works in Summersville, and how
Work in Summersville centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Summersville
Summersville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Summersville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Summersville, month by month
Summersville sees roughly 83 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 Summersville
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 156 miles away.
The best schools in and around Summersville
Schools across Summersville average a D+, better than 11% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Panther Creek Elementary SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Glade Creek Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Gauley River Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Richwood Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Summersville Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Nicholas County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Richwood High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Summersville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Summersville 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 Summersville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Summersville
Is Summersville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Summersville ranks 24,056th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, walkability, and low property taxes, and lowest on state infrastructure and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Summersville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,233. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $69,471 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Summersville safe?
Yes, Summersville is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $229 per resident a year.
Compare Summersville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Summersville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Summersville 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.
Summersville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Summersville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Summersville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Summersville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Summersville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Summersville 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.