Best PlacesValley Bend, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valley Bend, 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.
Valley Bend ranks 33,558th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Valley Bend
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.
Valley Bend's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valley Bend ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Valley Bend ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute40.3 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 13% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Valley Bend
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valley Bend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,155, 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 Valley Bend's effective rate of 0.31%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Valley Bend
Valley Bend runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Valley Bend.
Who works in Valley Bend, and how
Work in Valley Bend centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Valley Bend
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Valley Bend.
What the weather is like in Valley Bend, month by month
Valley Bend sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 20° |
| April | 68° | 52° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 70° | 54° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Valley Bend
The nearest airport, North Central West Virginia, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 114 miles away.
The best schools in and around Valley Bend
Schools across Valley Bend average a D+, better than 15% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- George Ward Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Belington ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Beverly Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Belington Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Elkins Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Philip Barbour High School ComplexC− · 28% proficient
- Tygarts Valley Middle/high SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valley Bend school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valley Bend 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 Valley Bend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Valley Bend
Is Valley Bend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valley Bend ranks 33,558th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low property taxes, and low disaster risk, and lowest on state infrastructure and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valley Bend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,202. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $64,155 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Valley Bend safe?
Valley Bend is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $356 per resident a year.
Compare Valley Bend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valley Bend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valley Bend 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.
Valley Bend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valley Bend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valley Bend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valley Bend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valley Bend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valley Bend 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.