Best PlacesCataract, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cataract, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cataract ranks 44,577th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Cataract
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.
Cataract's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cataract ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 73% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 66% of towns
Where Cataract ranks low
- Short commute40.1 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cataract
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cataract home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,005, 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 Cataract's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Cataract
Cataract runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cataract.
Who works in Cataract, and how
Work in Cataract centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cataract
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cataract.
What the weather is like in Cataract, month by month
Cataract sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Cataract
Indianapolis International sits about 34 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.2 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cataract
Schools across Cataract average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cloverdale Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cloverdale Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Cloverdale High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cataract school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cataract 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 Cataract against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cataract
Is Cataract a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cataract ranks 44,577th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, tree cover, and state infrastructure, and lowest on long commutes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cataract expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $193,854. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $51,005 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Cataract safe?
Cataract is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $292 per resident a year.
Compare Cataract with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cataract. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cataract 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.
Cataract detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cataract: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cataract: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cataract: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cataract: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cataract 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.