Getty Images
Best place to raise kids in West Virginia: Harrisville
Nearby city: Parkersburg
Population: 2,007
Median family income: $48,709
Runner-up: New Haven
The seat of Ritchie County, Harrisville is a former oil-and-gas boomtown that flourished around the turn of the 19th century. Like much of the rest of the state, hard times followed, but today the town is a quiet, safe, and affordable place with an average household income well above that of the rest of the state—along with a well-regarded elementary school, state parks, and Berdine’s Five & Dime, one of the oldest such stores in the U.S.
Population: 2,007
Median family income: $48,709
Runner-up: New Haven
The seat of Ritchie County, Harrisville is a former oil-and-gas boomtown that flourished around the turn of the 19th century. Like much of the rest of the state, hard times followed, but today the town is a quiet, safe, and affordable place with an average household income well above that of the rest of the state—along with a well-regarded elementary school, state parks, and Berdine’s Five & Dime, one of the oldest such stores in the U.S.
