Best PlacesWayne County, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wayne County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wayne County ranks 2,365th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wayne County
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.
The best areas in Wayne County
The parts of Wayne County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Huntington
More adults hold degrees, commutes are shorter, and fewer homes sit empty.
Wayne & Lavalette
It is quieter and advertised internet is faster.
Kenova
Tree cover is thinner and fewer households have young kids.
Scores across Wayne County run from about the 1st to the 66th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wayne County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wayne County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 79% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 67% of counties
Where Wayne County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 18% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wayne County
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wayne County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,143, 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 Wayne County's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wayne County
Wayne County 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 Wayne County.
Who works in Wayne County, and how
Work in Wayne County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Wayne County
Wayne County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Wayne County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wayne County growing, and who is moving in?
Wayne County has lost about 10% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Huntington, WV metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wayne County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wayne County, month by month
Wayne County sees roughly 61 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° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Wayne County
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 121 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wayne County
Schools across Wayne County average a C−, better than 18% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- South Point Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Ceredo-kenova ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
- Southside ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buffalo Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Vinson Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
- Huntington Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Spring Valley High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Wayne High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Tolsia High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wayne County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wayne County 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 Wayne County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wayne County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Wayne County
Is Wayne County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wayne County ranks 2,365th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and low property taxes, and lowest on state infrastructure and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wayne County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $134,450. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $62,143 median income, cost of living beats 41% of counties.
Is Wayne County safe?
Wayne County is safer than 49% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $313 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wayne County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 26. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 7% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wayne County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Huntington, Wayne & Lavalette, and Kenova. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Wayne County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wayne County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wayne County 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.
Wayne County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wayne County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wayne County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wayne County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wayne County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wayne County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.