Best PlacesCentennial, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Centennial, 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.
Centennial ranks 30,403rd 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 Centennial
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.
Centennial's strengths and weaknesses
Where Centennial ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 86% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 76% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 69% of towns
Where Centennial ranks low
- Short commute38.9 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Centennial
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Centennial home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,160, 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 Centennial's effective rate of 0.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Centennial
Centennial 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 Centennial.
Who works in Centennial, and how
Work in Centennial centers on admin & support services and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 98%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Centennial
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Centennial.
What the weather is like in Centennial, month by month
Centennial sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 64° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Centennial
Indianapolis International sits about 53 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 Centennial
Schools across Centennial average a C+, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southeast Fountain ElementaryC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Fountain Central High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Centennial school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Centennial 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 Centennial against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Centennial
Is Centennial a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Centennial ranks 30,403rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, an educated workforce, 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 Centennial expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $170,000. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $69,160 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Centennial safe?
Yes, Centennial is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $195 per resident a year.
Compare Centennial with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Centennial. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Centennial 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.
Centennial detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Centennial: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Centennial: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Centennial: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Centennial: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Centennial 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.