Best PlacesAmherst, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Amherst, 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.
Amherst ranks 7,032nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Amherst
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.
Amherst's strengths and weaknesses
Where Amherst ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Amherst ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 11% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 32% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 74 pleasant days a year, better than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Amherst
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Amherst home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,334, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Amherst's effective rate of 1.22%, 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.
Who lives in Amherst
Amherst runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Amherst.
Who works in Amherst, and how
Work in Amherst centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Amherst
Amherst has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Amherst and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Amherst, month by month
Amherst sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Amherst
Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 19 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.9 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Amherst
Schools across Amherst average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Firelands Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Walter G. Nord Middle SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Powers Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Amherst Junior High SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Firelands Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Sailorway Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Marion L Steele High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Firelands High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Vermilion High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Amherst school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Amherst 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 Amherst against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Amherst suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Amherst
Is Amherst a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Amherst ranks 7,032nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low disaster risk, and good schools, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Amherst expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $245,884. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $89,334 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Amherst safe?
Yes, Amherst is safer than 67% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $239 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Amherst?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 21. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of towns.
Is Amherst good for families?
Schools beat 89% of towns, crime safety beats 67%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Amherst with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Amherst. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Amherst 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.
Amherst detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Amherst: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Amherst: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Amherst: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Amherst: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Amherst detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.