Best PlacesWilliam, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around William, 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.
William ranks 33,888th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in William
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.
William's strengths and weaknesses
Where William ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
Where William ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in William
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median William home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,846, 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 William's effective rate of 0.34%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in William
William 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 William.
Who works in William, and how
Work in William centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in William
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across William.
What the weather is like in William, month by month
William sees roughly 102 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 76° | 66° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of William
The nearest airport, Morgantown Municipal/Walter L Bill Hart Field, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around William
Schools across William average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Aurora SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Davis Thomas Elementary Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Tucker County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Preston High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every William school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
William 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 William against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in William
Is William a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, William ranks 33,888th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, low property taxes, and low disaster risk, and lowest on internet speeds and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is William expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,305. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $57,846 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is William safe?
William is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
Compare William with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to William. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in William 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.
William detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for William: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in William: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of William: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in William: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
William 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.