Best PlacesCincinnati, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Cincinnati metro, 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.
Photo by lance_asper, Unsplash License, via unsplash
Cincinnati ranks 127th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on what local pay buys and few empty homes. The weaker spots are the weather, internet speeds, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in the Cincinnati metro
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.
The best areas in Cincinnati
The towns and districts of the Cincinnati metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Milford, Loveland & Batavia
Schools score higher, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Mason, Lebanon & Springboro
Crime runs lower and more adults hold degrees.
West Chester, Middletown & Fairfield
Fewer homes sit empty, though tree cover is thinner.
Amelia, Bethel & New Richmond
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Hamilton & Oxford
Transit reaches fewer jobs.
Florence, Union & Burlington
Prices have run up less.
White Oak, Lawrenceburg & Cleves
More households have young kids and homes cost less.
Downtown Cincinnati
Streets are more walkable, though fewer residents vote.
Covington, Alexandria & Latonia
Cincinnati shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Cincinnati's strengths and weaknesses
Cincinnati lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. What local pay buys, few empty homes, and civic engagement carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, internet speeds, and childcare costs hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Cincinnati ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 78% of metro areas
- Household income$91,727 median, better than 77% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 77% of metro areas
Where Cincinnati ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,171 a month, better than only 22% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 24% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Cincinnati
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cincinnati home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,727, 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 Cincinnati's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 Cincinnati
Cincinnati'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 Cincinnati.
Who works in Cincinnati, and how
Work in Cincinnati centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cincinnati
Cincinnati has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 66% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cincinnati and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cincinnati growing, and who is moving in?
Cincinnati has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dayton, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cincinnati go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cincinnati, month by month
Cincinnati sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, 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 | 44° | 33° | 23° |
| April | 69° | 54° | 41° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Cincinnati
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 12 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cincinnati
Schools across Cincinnati average a B−, better than 76% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Montgomery Elementary SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Hilltop Elementary SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Terrace Park Elementary SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mariemont Junior High SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Indian Hill Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Sycamore Junior High SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
Top high schools
- Mariemont High SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
- Madeira High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Walnut Hills High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cincinnati school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cincinnati 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 Cincinnati against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Cincinnati suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of metro areas and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cincinnati
Is Cincinnati a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cincinnati ranks 127th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on what local pay buys, few empty homes, and civic engagement, and lowest on the weather and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cincinnati expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $279,488. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $91,727 median income, cost of living beats 88% of metro areas.
Is Cincinnati safe?
Cincinnati is safer than 41% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $332 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cincinnati?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 23. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cincinnati?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Milford, Loveland & Batavia, Mason, Lebanon & Springboro, and West Chester, Middletown & Fairfield. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cincinnati good for families?
Schools beat 76% of metro areas, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $1,171 a month.
Is Cincinnati good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 20% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cincinnati with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cincinnati. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cincinnati 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.
Cincinnati detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cincinnati: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cincinnati: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cincinnati: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cincinnati: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cincinnati 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.