Best PlacesTaplin, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Taplin, 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.
Taplin ranks 43,036th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Taplin
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.
Taplin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Taplin ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 76% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 57% of towns
Where Taplin ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Taplin
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Taplin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,573, 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 Taplin's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Taplin
Taplin runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Taplin.
Who works in Taplin, and how
Work in Taplin centers on health care & social and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Taplin
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Taplin.
What the weather is like in Taplin, month by month
Taplin sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 71° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Taplin
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 164 miles away.
The best schools in and around Taplin
Schools across Taplin average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Man Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Man Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Man Senior High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Taplin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Taplin 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 Taplin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Taplin
Is Taplin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Taplin ranks 43,036th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and low property taxes, and lowest on state infrastructure and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Taplin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $98,436. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $60,573 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Taplin safe?
Yes, Taplin is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
Compare Taplin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Taplin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Taplin 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.
Taplin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Taplin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Taplin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Taplin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Taplin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Taplin 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.