Wardensville, WV

The affordability dashboard for Wardensville, WV aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 2,180 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (41/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $49,776, median home value of $209,400, median rent of $820 per month, and 16.8% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $932 per month (studio $715, 1BR $784, 3BR $1,146, 4BR $1,263). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $10,141 per year, consuming 20% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are income, education, housing, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 5.4% and poverty 19.3% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.