Best PlacesValley Fork, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valley Fork, 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 Fork ranks 37,979th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Valley Fork
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 Fork's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valley Fork ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 81% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 77% of towns
Where Valley Fork ranks low
- Short commute44.2 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Valley Fork
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valley Fork home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,059, 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 Fork's effective rate of 0.23%, 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 9 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 Fork
Valley Fork 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 Valley Fork.
Who works in Valley Fork, and how
Work in Valley Fork centers on health care & social 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 Valley Fork
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Valley Fork.
What the weather is like in Valley Fork, month by month
Valley Fork sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Valley Fork
The nearest airport, West Virginia International Yeager, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Valley Fork
Schools across Valley Fork average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Big Otter Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Clay Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clay Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Clay County High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valley Fork school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valley Fork 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 Fork against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Valley Fork
Is Valley Fork a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valley Fork ranks 37,979th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, low crime, and tree cover, and lowest on long commutes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valley Fork expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,100. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $52,059 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Valley Fork safe?
Yes, Valley Fork is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $153 per resident a year.
Compare Valley Fork with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valley Fork. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valley Fork 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 Fork detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valley Fork: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valley Fork: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valley Fork: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valley Fork: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valley Fork 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.