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Place dossier plate
SheetWV-MOOREFIELD-WV · Moorefield, WV 2,952 pop · income 16th pct · 5 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Moorefield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Moorefield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Williamson · lowest
24,119
Williamson · lowest
24,119 median HH income
18.0% of the leader · rank #1
Moorefield · this city
47,308
Moorefield · this city
47,308 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #2
Centralia · near
47,308
Centralia · near
47,308 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #3
Grayville · near
47,308
Grayville · near
47,308 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #4
Mattoon · near
47,308
Mattoon · near
47,308 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #5
Dunn · near
47,310
Dunn · near
47,310 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #6
Gibsonia · highest
134,148
Gibsonia · highest
134,148 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Moorefield on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 2,952.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Moorefield - the verdict
Nationally, Moorefield sits in the 16th percentile for household income and the 26th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
16th
percentile, household income
18th
percentile, home value
5th
percentile, median rent
26th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Moorefield, WV
West Virginia's Moorefield is a small town, with 2,952 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Moorefield households earn a median of $47,308 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 6.8%. Home values in Moorefield run a median of $121,400, and the median resident age is 44.3 years. Educational attainment runs 7.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 4 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2298.4 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 53.0°F with 35.2 inches of precipitation per year and 21.4 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in West Virginia run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts West Virginia at 89.5 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $945 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $220 across West Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 49.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Moorefield's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to schools and households to reported crime to climate and hazard context to within-city variation to population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Moorefield, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Moorefield?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
What does the education layer cover for Moorefield?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 7.5% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Moorefield?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Moorefield?
Within West Virginia, the closest population matches are Kenova (2,977 residents, $53,438 income); Williamstown (2,977 residents, $75,577 income); Williamson (2,979 residents, $24,119 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Oaklawn-Sunview, KS (2,952 residents); Menlo Park Terrace, NJ (2,952 residents); Gibsonia, PA (2,952 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Moorefield?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2298.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 1% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1532.3
Violent rate
766.1
Total reported rate
2298.4
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What physical conditions frame life in Moorefield?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 53.0°F, with 35.2 inches of precipitation and 21.4 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for West Virginia is 49.2 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
53.0°F
Annual precipitation
35.2 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
49.2
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Moorefield growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +143 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+5.7%
2025 estimate
2,655
2020 estimate
2,512
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Moorefield?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
10.6%
Drive alone
76.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,401 workers age 16+.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A
89.5 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate C-
6.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$47,308
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
766 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
7.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Moorefield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 87/100 (A) · 89.5 index
Poverty rate: 54/100 (C-) · 6.8%
Household income: 17/100 (F) · $47,308
Violent crime: 3/100 (F) · 766 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 7.5%
Where Moorefield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Moorefield's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Moorefield highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Moorefield, WV (this city): home $121,400, crime 2,298/100k
Fowlerville, MI : home $189,000, crime 3,624/100k
Kenova, WV : home $98,700, crime 595/100k
Williamstown, WV : home $164,100, crime 170/100k
Philippi, WV : home $110,900, crime 932/100k
Fayetteville, WV : home $165,000, crime 2,562/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Moorefield compare to other US cities?
Here's how Moorefield stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income16% higher than other cities
Home value18% pricier than other cities
Median rent5% pricier than other cities
Safety26% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to West Virginia alone, Moorefield ranks #30 of 45 West Virginia cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Moorefield against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to West Virginia only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
West Virginia-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Moorefield near the bottom of West Virginia's cities
Among the 390 West Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Moorefield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Moorefield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#199 of 330
40th percentile in West Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 390
0th percentile in West Virginia
Median Home Value
#130 of 337
61st percentile in West Virginia
Poverty Rate
#248 of 389
36th percentile in West Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#288 of 390
26th percentile in West Virginia
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within West Virginia only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
16th percentile nationally for median household income · 26th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Moorefield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Moorefield's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Moorefield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$121,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 82% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Moorefield's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,351 of 15,516
More affordable than 72% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,893 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Moorefield sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,351 of 15,516 and #3,893 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$47,308Moorefield, WV median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Moorefield, WV median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Moorefield, WV.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)7.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,952
Median Income
$47,308
Median Home Value
$121,400
Median Age
44.3
Poverty Rate
6.8%
Labor force participation
58.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
7.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2298.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
766.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1532.3
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
53.0°F
Annual Precipitation
35.2"
Annual Snowfall
21.4"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Moorefield's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,512 residents
2021
2,479 residents
2022
2,500 residents
2023
2,499 residents
2024
2,690 residents
2025
2,655 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$0.4M
2020
2
2
0
$0.3M
2021
17
5
12
$1.8M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
128
4
124
$16.5M
2024
4
4
0
$0.3M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.9%
Carpool
7.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.7%
Work from Home
10.6%
Other
3.2%
Based on 1,401 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
West Virginia statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $220
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across West Virginia at $220 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $38 ).
These are West Virginia statewide averages, not a meter reading for Moorefield. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
West Virginia's BEA cost-of-living index is 89.5 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Moorefield is $945/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to West Virginia statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.2 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a West Virginia statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Moorefield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Moorefield compares to similar-size West Virginia cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.