WV metros
Cost of living across major WV metropolitan areas.
What living in WV costs
Across the 2 WV metros we track, the typical cost-of-living index is 89.1 against a national metro median of 95.7 — about 7% cheaper than the typical US metro. That ranks WV 1 of the 48 states we cover, counting from the cheapest.
The state is not uniform: Huntington, WV is the cheapest metro at 88.1, while Charleston, WV runs 89.1 — a spread of 1% between them.
A typical WV home costs $166,506, or about 3× median household income, and typical rent is $1,265/mo.
Taxes in WV
WV levies a state income tax on top of the federal one. Effective property tax runs about 0.7% of home value in a typical WV metro, and combined state and local sales tax is around 6.6%.
Property tax is the one that scales with housing, so it bites hardest in the pricier metros above. Per-metro figures are on each metro page.
| Metro | COL index | Median home | Median rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huntington, WV | 88.1 | $166,506 | $1,094 |
| Charleston, WV | 89.1 | $148,817 | $1,265 |
Cities & towns in WV (7)
Local property tax, home values and school scores for each place.