Best PlacesCanal Winchester, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Canal Winchester, 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.
Canal Winchester ranks 689th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Canal Winchester
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.
Canal Winchester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Canal Winchester ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of cities
- QuietBetter than 86% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 86% of cities
Where Canal Winchester ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 22% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 24% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 34% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 37% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Canal Winchester
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Canal Winchester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,666, 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 Canal Winchester's effective rate of 1.32%, 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 Canal Winchester
Canal Winchester runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Canal Winchester.
Who works in Canal Winchester, and how
Work in Canal Winchester centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Canal Winchester
Canal Winchester has more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Canal Winchester and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Canal Winchester, month by month
Canal Winchester sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 24° |
| April | 64° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Canal Winchester
The nearest airport, Rickenbacker International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 10 miles away.
The best schools in and around Canal Winchester
Schools across Canal Winchester average a B, better than 62% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sycamore Creek Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Winchester Trail ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Pickerington Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bloom-carroll Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Diley Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Pickerington Ridgeview Junior High SchoolA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Pickerington High School CentralA− · 67% proficient
- Bloom-carroll High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Canal Winchester High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Canal Winchester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Canal Winchester 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 Canal Winchester against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Canal Winchester suits
Common questions about living in Canal Winchester
Is Canal Winchester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Canal Winchester ranks 689th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and quiet, and lowest on walkability and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Canal Winchester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $289,224. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $89,666 median income, cost of living beats 66% of cities.
Is Canal Winchester safe?
Yes, Canal Winchester is safer than 57% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Canal Winchester?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 24. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of cities.
Is Canal Winchester good for families?
Schools beat 62% of cities, crime safety beats 57%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Canal Winchester with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Canal Winchester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Canal Winchester 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.
Canal Winchester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Canal Winchester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Canal Winchester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Canal Winchester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Canal Winchester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Canal Winchester 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.