Best PlacesVarney, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Varney, 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.
Varney ranks 48,493rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Varney
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.
Varney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Varney ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 80% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 79% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 76% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 68% of towns
Where Varney ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,130 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Varney
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Varney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $36,130, 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 Varney's effective rate of 0.27%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Varney
Varney 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 Varney.
Who works in Varney, and how
Work in Varney centers on mining & oil & gas and admin & support services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Varney
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Varney.
What the weather is like in Varney, month by month
Varney sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Varney
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Varney
Schools across Varney average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Matewan Pk8C− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Mingo Central Comprehensive High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Varney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Varney 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 Varney against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Varney
Is Varney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Varney ranks 48,493rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, clean air, and a stable housing market, and lowest on health outcomes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Varney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $90,184. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $36,130 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Varney safe?
Yes, Varney is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
Compare Varney with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Varney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Varney 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.
Varney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Varney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Varney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Varney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Varney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Varney 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.