Best Places45243, OH Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 45243, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

45243 ranks 99th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.

#99
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 45243

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 45243 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

45243's strengths and weaknesses

#99Best US zip overall
Top 1%What local pay buys
Top 1%Health care access
Top 3%Good schools
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 45243 with other zip codes.

Where 45243 ranks high

  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • School gradeA+, better than 99% of zip codes
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Household income$171,190 median, better than 98% of zip codes

Where 45243 ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 17% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 22% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 45243

A household needs to earn about $204,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 45243 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $171,190, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$204,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$4,756
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $706,002 home
Median rent
$2,423
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$3,600
Property tax$921
Homeowners insurance$235

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 45243's effective rate of 1.56%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 45243

45243 runs older than the country.

Median age
45
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
23%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.6
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1826%
18 to 3415%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6419%
65 and older23%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 45243.


Who works in 45243, and how

Work in 45243 centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
25%
above the national average
Unemployment
1.4%
below the national average
Job growth
+1.8%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical18%
Health care & social16%
Manufacturing13%
Retail trade10%
Education10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 72%
  • Work from home 25%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 45243

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 45243.

Places to eat and drink
41
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 25.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 38% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 45243, month by month

45243 sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January44°33°23°
April69°54°41°
July89°76°65°
October72°57°45°

Flying in and out of 45243

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 19 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
CVG
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 19 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
50th-busiest in the US, 99 nonstop destinations
Average drive
27 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 45243

Schools across 45243 average an A+, better than 99% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 45243 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


45243 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 45243 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 45243

Is 45243 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 45243 ranks 99th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on what local pay buys, health care access, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 45243 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $706,002. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $171,190 median income, cost of living beats 100% of zip codes.

Is 45243 safe?

Yes, 45243 is safer than 68% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $233 per resident a year.


Compare 45243 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 45243. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 45243 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

45243 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 45243: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 45243: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 45243: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 45243: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

45243 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.