Charleston, the state capital · Photo: Daniel G Rego · CC BY-SA 4.0How West Virginia stacks up
West Virginia ranks last in the country on health: 25% of adults say their health is fair or poor. West Virginia spends more per pupil than most states (29th), but its students score 49th on the Nation’s Report Card. West Virginia ranks 37th overall, with a C and a score of 28.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
35th of 51C32/100 More crime than the typical state. Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Morgantown, #2,212 nationally. The FBI’s 2025 estimate puts violent crime at 266 per 100,000 residents, the 22nd lowest rate of the 50 states and D.C. The statewide figure flatters its larger towns; smaller places and the countryside lift it.
Add property crime, weighted as our town grades weigh it, and it ranks 11th lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 11 West Virginia towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 81% of residents of West Virginia’s 10,000+ towns.
Where most people live, crime runs higher
Vienna lands in the high-crime quarter on property crime; its violent-crime rate is below the typical U.S. town’s. At the safe end sit St. Albans (#2,302), Fairmont (#2,397) and Clarksburg (#2,648) in the national ranking of towns of 10,000+. The quarter reporting the most crime per resident takes in Charleston, Huntington and Parkersburg.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| West Virginia | 0% | 77% |
A few towns sit out
Town figures come from each police department’s own reports to the FBI, and a town needs enough of the last three years reported to count. That covers 81% of the people in West Virginia’s towns of 10,000+. Martinsburg and Weirton sit out, missing too many years. In Teays Valley and Cheat Lake, county or state police answer the calls, so there is no town figure. Next door, coverage runs from 28% in Maryland to 98% in Kentucky.
Schools
27th of 51B−48/100 Middle of the pack for schools. 24% of students test Proficient on the Nation’s Report Card (3rd lowest) and 93% graduate on time (highest). Spending ranks 29th; results rank 49th. It trails all of its neighbors on schools.
Graduation: 92.6% finish high school on time (class of 2023), highest. The grade weighs test results and graduation equally.
Per-pupil spending, $15,637 (23rd lowest), is shown for context and not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 15 West Virginia towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
1st of 51A+100/100 Consistently affordable. No state puts more of its people in the nation’s most affordable quarter of towns (96%). Compared with $3,119 nationally, the typical tax bill here is $865. No neighbor beats it on affordability; Kentucky comes closest.
Against income, home values rank lowest: 2.7 times the median household’s.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 15 West Virginia towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
51st of 51D−0/100 Among the least healthy states. Only 0% of residents live in a town in the national top quarter, led by Cheat Lake. No state has more adults in fair or poor health than West Virginia: 25% of adults say their health is fair or poor. Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland all do better on health.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 15 West Virginia towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
11th of 51A−80/100 High ownership outside its larger towns. Its larger towns trail the statewide figure, which also counts rural areas. West Virginia tops the country on this measure: 75% of homes are owner-occupied. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Teays Valley its best at #795 of 5,235.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 15 West Virginia towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
46th of 51D10/100 Exposed to costly hazards. Every neighbor scores higher, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland among them. West Virginia ranks 5th highest for expected hazard damage: $217 a year per $100,000 of buildings. FEMA puts 95% of the expected losses on inland flooding.
Federal major-disaster declarations since 2015: 20, 6th most.
Behind the figure: inland flooding 95%, hurricane 1%, earthquake 1% of FEMA’s expected losses.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 15 West Virginia towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
25th of 51B−52/100 Typical commutes. West Virginia workers average 26.6 minutes to work, against 26.4 nationally. Nearly every larger town does well here, Morgantown and Beckley among them. Town by town it does better than the statewide number.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 15 West Virginia towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
49th of 51D−4/100 Among the slowest-growing states. West Virginia ranks last in the country on this measure: the population fell 3.2%. Big places drag it down: Charleston and Huntington rank in the national bottom quarter. Every neighbor scores higher, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland among them.
New homes permitted in 2025: 2.9 per 1,000 residents (12th fewest).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 15 West Virginia towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How West Virginia compares to its neighbors
Against Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky, West Virginia leads on cost of living but trails on schools, health and natural hazards.
| West Virginia | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Maryland | Virginia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | C 2837th of 51 | A 868th of 51 | A 887th of 51 | B− 4628th of 51 | A− 7812th of 51 |
| Safety | C 3222nd official · 0% in top towns | B+ 6823rd official · 19% in top towns | A 8816th official · 29% in top towns | C− 2434th official · 1% in top towns | B 587th official · 3% in top towns |
| Schools | B− 4849th official · 4% in top towns | A− 8210th official · 31% in top towns | A 8812th official · 38% in top towns | B 5820th official · 11% in top towns | A− 8021st official · 17% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A+ 1002nd official · 96% in top towns | B 6429th official · 48% in top towns | B 5833rd official · 43% in top towns | C+ 4039th official · 25% in top towns | C+ 4427th official · 10% in top towns |
| Health | D− 051st official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3632nd official · 12% in top towns | B 6227th official · 23% in top towns | A− 7618th official · 29% in top towns | B+ 7420th official · 32% in top towns |
| Housing | A− 801st official · 8% in top towns | B 5628th official · 19% in top towns | A 9017th official · 26% in top towns | A− 8223rd official · 21% in top towns | B− 5427th official · 14% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | D 1047th official · 5% in top towns | A 887th official · 50% in top towns | A− 7811th official · 39% in top towns | A+ 982nd official · 98% in top towns | A 908th official · 72% in top towns |
| Commute | B− 5238th official · 75% in top towns | B 6016th official · 29% in top towns | C 3036th official · 15% in top towns | D− 250th official · 1% in top towns | C− 2042nd official · 13% in top towns |
| Growth | D− 451st official · 3% in top towns | C 3046th official · 23% in top towns | D 844th official · 9% in top towns | B 5623rd official · 27% in top towns | B− 5419th official · 19% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work