Best PlacesAva, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ava, 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.
Ava ranks 23,134th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ava
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.
Ava's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ava ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 82% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 80% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 72% of towns
Where Ava ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 18% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 67 pleasant days a year, better than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 24% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ava
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ava home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,961, 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 Ava's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ava
Ava runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ava.
Who works in Ava, and how
Work in Ava centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ava
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ava.
What the weather is like in Ava, month by month
Ava sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 67° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Ava
The nearest airport, Mid-Ohio Valley Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ava
Schools across Ava average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shenandoah Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Meadowbrook Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Meadowbrook High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Shenandoah High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ava school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ava 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 Ava against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ava
Is Ava a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ava ranks 23,134th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, tree cover, and low taxes, and lowest on cell coverage and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ava expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,389. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $60,961 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Ava safe?
Ava is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.
Compare Ava with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ava. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ava 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.
Ava detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ava: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ava: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ava: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ava: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ava 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.