Best PlacesThayer, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thayer, 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.
Thayer ranks 40,116th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Thayer
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.
Thayer's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thayer ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 72% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 71% of towns
Where Thayer ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Thayer
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thayer home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,938, 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 Thayer's effective rate of 0.42%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Thayer
Thayer runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Thayer.
Who works in Thayer, and how
Work in Thayer centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Thayer
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Thayer.
What the weather is like in Thayer, month by month
Thayer sees roughly 84 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 Thayer
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 176 miles away.
The best schools in and around Thayer
Schools across Thayer average a D+, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stanaford Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Meadow Bridge ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- New River IntermediateD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oak Hill Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Woodrow Wilson High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Oak Hill HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Meadow Bridge HighD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thayer school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thayer 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 Thayer against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Thayer
Is Thayer a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thayer ranks 40,116th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low property taxes, and heat safety, and lowest on health outcomes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Thayer expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $93,400. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $70,938 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Thayer safe?
Yes, Thayer is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
Compare Thayer with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thayer. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thayer 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.
Thayer detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thayer: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thayer: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thayer: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thayer: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thayer 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.