Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 1,283: a town settled in 1932.
Fort Ashby’s best subject grade is an A− for cost of living; its weakest is a D for incomes. Only one of the 62 West Virginia towns we compare has a higher peak summer temperature than Fort Ashby. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 77% of U.S. towns. Among 62 West Virginia towns, just 5 have a higher median age than Fort Ashby. Fort Ashby and Stewart's Tavern is on the National Register of Historic Places. Fort Ashby has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within West Virginia), ordered by how far Fort Ashby is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Where Fort Ashby beats most towns.
The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2010 and 3 maps from 1948 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Ordered by what stands out in Fort Ashby.
Among households in Fort Ashby, 84% live in a home they own.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in nearly four fifths of U.S. communities. FEMA puts 88% of Fort Ashby’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding. 24 flood insurance claims have been paid here since 1993.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For Fort Ashby, the typical journey to work is 26 minutes. Only 4% of working residents stay in Fort Ashby for work; the rest commute out. Jobs in Fort Ashby grew by 191 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 315. Also worth knowing: in Fort Ashby, 17% of residents live below the poverty line.
| Fort Ashby | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 3.9% | 14% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 16% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 21 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For adults in Fort Ashby, the share who have been diagnosed with depression is 30%. No town among the 62 in West Virginia we compare has a lower share of adults who sleep under 7 hours than Fort Ashby. The share of adults in Fort Ashby who report frequent mental distress is 19%, where West Virginia’s towns sit at 21% and U.S. towns at 17%. Only 5 of the 62 West Virginia towns we compare have a lower share of adults who worry about having enough food than Fort Ashby.
| Fort Ashby | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 31% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 40% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 21% | 17% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 44% | 35% |
| What stands out | Fort Ashby | WV |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.3% | 16.2% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12.5% | 19.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
People 65 and older are 30% of residents (21% statewide); children under 18 are 16% of residents (20% statewide). The share of adults 25 and older in Fort Ashby who hold a bachelor’s degree or more: 21%.
Somewhere between 27% and 81% women
The Census survey reached too few of Fort Ashby’s residents to say more: its margin here is ±27.2 points. Across West Virginia, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Fort Ashby | WV | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.2% | 10.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 4.5% | 9.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 12.5% | 8.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.7% | 12% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 4.4% | 12% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 18.9% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 6.3% | 12.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 23.5% | 8.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8.9% | 10.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 43.6% | 39.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.3% | 17.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.1% | 8.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.3% | 14.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 5.8% | 9.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,300, single groups can be off by several points
July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 23° and about 31 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
0.6 miles of trail wind through 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Mineral County Fairgrounds, at 27 acres. Fort Ashby’s concentration of trails is 0.2 miles per square mile, close to West Virginia’s towns (0.4) and below U.S. towns (0.4).
| Fort Ashby | West Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.6% | 2.5% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mineral County Fairgrounds | — | 27 |
| 2. Dam Site #21 | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fort Ashby. Close and well known come first.
Big draw38 mi National MemorialFlight 93 National Memorial286K visitors a year
30 mi MountainMount Davis
6 mi National Historical ParkChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park4.6M visitors a year
38 mi MuseumMuseum of the Shenandoah Valley
10 mi MuseumLiterary Hall32 mi Ski areaWisp Resort36 runs · 638 ft verticalFlight 93 National Memorial: James Steakley, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mount Davis: Wikiuser100, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park: Bonnachoven, CC0 · Museum of the Shenandoah Valley: GustaveCourbet, Public domain · Literary Hall: Justin A. Wilcox from Washington, D.C., United States, CC BY-SA 2.0
Fort Ashby is unincorporated, so Mineral County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Where Fort Ashby’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 within 15 miles of the center of Fort Ashby
About 12 of every 100 Fort Ashby residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across West Virginia.
CDP in the United States
Fort Ashby is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mineral County, West Virginia, United States, along Patterson Creek. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,289 at the 2020 census (down from 1,380 at the 2010 census). The community was originally chartered as Frankfort and then known as Alaska before it took the name of its well-known historic landmark. Fort Ashby is the location of the Mineral County Fair.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
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