Best PlacesValley Head, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valley Head, 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 Head ranks 45,135th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Valley Head
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 Head's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valley Head ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of towns
Where Valley Head ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Valley Head
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valley Head home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,097, 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 Head's effective rate of 0.34%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Valley Head
Valley Head 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 Head.
Who works in Valley Head, and how
Work in Valley Head centers on hospitality & food and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Valley Head
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Valley Head.
What the weather is like in Valley Head, month by month
Valley Head sees roughly 68 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 Head
The nearest airport, Greenbrier Valley, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 135 miles away.
The best schools in and around Valley Head
Schools across Valley Head average a D+, better than 11% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- George Ward Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Green Bank Elementary-middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Highland HighA− · 65% proficient
- Pocahontas County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Webster County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valley Head school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valley Head 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 Head against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Valley Head
Is Valley Head a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valley Head ranks 45,135th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, a stable housing market, and low property taxes, and lowest on education levels and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valley Head expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $103,917. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $55,097 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Valley Head safe?
Valley Head is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $453 per resident a year.
Compare Valley Head with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valley Head. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valley Head 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 Head detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valley Head: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valley Head: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valley Head: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valley Head: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valley Head 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.