Best PlacesTempa, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tempa, 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.
Tempa ranks 47,799th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Tempa
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.
Tempa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tempa ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 71% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 67% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 65% of towns
Where Tempa ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$31,725 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tempa
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tempa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $31,725; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Tempa's 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tempa
Tempa 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 Tempa.
Who works in Tempa, and how
Work in Tempa centers on admin & support services and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Tempa
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tempa.
What the weather is like in Tempa, month by month
Tempa sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Tempa
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 168 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tempa
Schools across Tempa average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain View Elementary & Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Talcott Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Meadow Bridge HighD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tempa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tempa 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 Tempa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tempa
Is Tempa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tempa ranks 47,799th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low property taxes, and clean air, and lowest on a weak job market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tempa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $133,125. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $31,725 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Tempa safe?
Yes, Tempa is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $235 per resident a year.
Compare Tempa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tempa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tempa 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.
Tempa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tempa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tempa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tempa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tempa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tempa 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.