Best PlacesCenterville, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Centerville, 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.
Centerville ranks 2,021st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Centerville
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.
Centerville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Centerville ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 95% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of towns
Where Centerville ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 11% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Centerville
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Centerville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,918, 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 Centerville's effective rate of 1.82%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Centerville
Centerville 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 Centerville.
Who works in Centerville, and how
Work in Centerville centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Centerville
Centerville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Centerville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Centerville, month by month
Centerville sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 41, 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 | 41° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Centerville
The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 49 miles away.
The best schools in and around Centerville
Schools across Centerville average an A+, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dr John Hole Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Stingley Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- J F Kennedy Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bellbrook Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Hadley E Watts Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Tower Heights Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Bellbrook High SchoolA · 78% proficient
- Centerville High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Centerville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Centerville 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 Centerville against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Centerville suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 19% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Centerville
Is Centerville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Centerville ranks 2,021st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and health care access, and lowest on property taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Centerville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $293,054. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $92,918 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Centerville safe?
Yes, Centerville is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $198 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Centerville?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 23. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of towns.
Is Centerville good for families?
Schools beat 95% of towns, crime safety beats 80%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Centerville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Centerville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Centerville 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.
Centerville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Centerville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Centerville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Centerville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Centerville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Centerville 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.