Morgantown, along the Monongahela River, is home to the 26,000-student West Virginia University. The area has a selection of typical West Virginia businesses including chemicals and forest products. It has emerged into a diversified business center with research and high tech industries and a strong employment base. There is plenty of recreation in the nearby mountains and rivers, and Pittsburgh is 70 miles to the north.

The university brings above-average healthcare and educational resources to the area. The downtown area is interesting, well-preserved and livable with a few minor cultural amenities. Cost of living and housing are moderate, especially for a college town. The area is probably better than the raw numbers indicate.

Morgantown is located in an attractive hilly, deciduous-wooded region extending for miles in all directions. The climate is a humid continental type, often pleasant and hot at times in summer with occasional thundershowers. Winter weather is variable. The location on storm tracks (and downwind of Lake Erie) brings periods of wet or snowy weather in winter and clouds at all times of year.