Best PlacesChesterton, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chesterton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chesterton ranks 6,246th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chesterton
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.
Chesterton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chesterton ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
Where Chesterton ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,024 a month, better than only 23% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 39% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chesterton
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chesterton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,545, 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 Chesterton's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Chesterton
Chesterton'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 Chesterton.
Who works in Chesterton, and how
Work in Chesterton 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 80%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Chesterton
Chesterton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chesterton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chesterton, month by month
Chesterton sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Chesterton
Chicago Midway International sits about 38 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Chesterton
Schools across Chesterton average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jackson Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Brummitt Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Bailly Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty Intermediate SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Chesterton Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Westchester Intermediate SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Chesterton Senior High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Portage High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Michigan City High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chesterton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chesterton 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 Chesterton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chesterton
Is Chesterton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chesterton ranks 6,246th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and biking, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chesterton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $299,507. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $97,545 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Chesterton safe?
Yes, Chesterton is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
Compare Chesterton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chesterton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chesterton 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.
Chesterton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chesterton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chesterton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chesterton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chesterton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chesterton 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.