Best PlacesAllen County, IN Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Allen County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Allen County ranks 539th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on fast internet and biking. The weaker spots are noise, the weather, and taxes.

#539
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Allen County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Allen County 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.

The best areas in Allen County

The parts of Allen County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.

#1

Grabill, Leo & Woodburn

More residents vote, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.

WorseBetter
78th nationally
#2

Huntertown

Biking is worse and streets are more car-dependent.

WorseBetter
76th nationally
#3

Roanoke

More adults hold degrees, though fewer households have young kids.

WorseBetter
71st nationally
#4

Fort Wayne

Scores close to Roanoke, except that crime runs higher here.

WorseBetter
61st nationally
#5

New Haven

Scores close to Fort Wayne, except that it is quieter here.

WorseBetter
55th nationally
#6

Monroeville

Advertised internet is slower and health outcomes score lower.

WorseBetter
46th nationally

Allen County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.


Allen County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Fast internet
Top 10%Biking
Top 10%Transit

Allen County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Fast internet, biking, and transit carry most of that.

The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. The weather and taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Allen County with other counties.

Where Allen County ranks high

  • Internet speedBetter than 95% of counties
  • BikingBetter than 94% of counties
  • TransitBetter than 92% of counties
  • Cell coverageBetter than 92% of counties
  • Low vacancyBetter than 91% of counties

Where Allen County ranks low

  • QuietBetter than only 4% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of counties
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of counties
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 25% of counties
  • Air qualityBetter than only 30% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Allen County

A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Allen County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,564, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$57,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,322
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $217,808 home
Median rent
$1,110
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,111
Property tax$139
Homeowners insurance$73

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 Allen County's effective rate of 0.77%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. 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 Allen County

Allen County runs younger than the country.

Median age
38
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
16%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1824%
18 to 3423%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6418%
65 and older16%

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


Who works in Allen County, and how

Work in Allen County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
10%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.6%
below the national average
Job growth
+2.9%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing19%
Health care & social17%
Retail trade11%
Education8%
Hospitality & food6%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 86%
  • Work from home 10%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in Allen County

Allen County has more parkland per resident than 66% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 69% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Allen County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
1,545
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 40.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 36% of counties
Coffee shops
157
about 4.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 35% of counties
Parkland
2,275 acres
about 5.9 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 66% of counties
Open past 10pm
~344
food and drink venues open late, about 8.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 69% of counties
Living on campus
1,412
students living in college or university housing

Is Allen County growing, and who is moving in?

Allen County has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Indianapolis, IN.

Population growth
+9%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
399,295
up from 365,147
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Indianapolis, IN1,340 / yr
DeKalb County, IN1,069 / yr
Chicago, IL911 / yr
The rest of the Fort Wayne, IN metro632 / yr
Elkhart, IN379 / yr

Where people leaving Allen County go

Indianapolis, IN1,434 / yr
The rest of the Fort Wayne, IN metro818 / yr
DeKalb County, IN796 / yr
Chicago, IL644 / yr
Steuben County, IN543 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Allen County, month by month

Allen County sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January37°28°20°
April64°50°38°
July86°74°63°
October69°55°43°

Flying in and out of Allen County

The nearest airport, Fort Wayne International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 114 miles away.

Nearest airport
FWA
Fort Wayne International, about 9 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
144th-busiest in the US, 33 nonstop destinations
Average drive
13 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Allen County

Schools across Allen County average a C, better than 39% of counties.

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 Allen County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Allen County 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 Allen County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Allen County suits

Families

Schools land around the 39th percentile and crime safety beats 88%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 10% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 57%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Allen County

Is Allen County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Allen County ranks 539th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, biking, and transit, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Allen County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $217,808. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $79,564 median income, cost of living beats 80% of counties.

Is Allen County safe?

Yes, Allen County is safer than 88% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $230 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Allen County?

July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 20. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 10% of counties.

What are the best neighborhoods in Allen County?

Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Grabill, Leo & Woodburn, Huntertown, and Roanoke. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.

Is Allen County good for families?

Schools beat 39% of counties, crime safety beats 88%, and childcare runs $872 a month.

Is Allen County good for remote workers?

Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 95% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.


Compare Allen County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Allen County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Allen County 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.

Allen County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

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

Allen County 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. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.