Best PlacesButler County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Butler County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Butler County ranks 410th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $90,562, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are the weather, childcare costs, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Butler County
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 Butler County
The parts of Butler 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.
Monroe
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
West Chester
More adults hold degrees and schools score higher.
New Miami
Scores close to West Chester, except that health care is harder to reach here.
Okeana & Ross
It is quieter and more households have young kids.
Fairfield
Fewer homes sit empty.
Trenton
Crime runs lower, though prices have run up more.
Hamilton
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Oxford
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Middletown
Scores close to Oxford, except that commutes are longer here.
Butler County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Butler County's strengths and weaknesses
Butler County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Cheap car insurance, cell coverage, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, childcare costs, and air quality hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Butler County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of counties
- Household income$90,562 median, better than 87% of counties
Where Butler County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 19% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Butler County
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Butler County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,562, 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 Butler County's effective rate of 1.18%, 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 Butler County
Butler County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Butler County.
Who works in Butler County, and how
Work in Butler County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Butler County
Butler County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 67% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Butler County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Butler County growing, and who is moving in?
Butler County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Cincinnati, OH metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Butler County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Butler County, month by month
Butler County sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 69° | 54° | 41° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 64° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Butler County
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 27 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Butler County
Schools across Butler County average a B+, better than 86% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Crosby Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Independence Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Vangorden Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mason Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Lakota Plains Junior SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Ross Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- William Mason High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Sycamore High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Ross High SchoolA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Butler County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Butler 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 Butler County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Butler County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of counties and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Butler County
Is Butler County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Butler County ranks 410th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, cell coverage, and few empty homes, and lowest on the weather and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Butler County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $261,294. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $90,562 median income, cost of living beats 90% of counties.
Is Butler County safe?
Yes, Butler County is safer than 65% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Butler County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 23. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Butler County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Monroe, West Chester, and New Miami. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Butler County good for families?
Schools beat 86% of counties, crime safety beats 65%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Is Butler County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 58% of counties. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Butler County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Butler County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Butler 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.
Butler County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Butler County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Butler County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Butler County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Butler County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Butler County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.