Best PlacesClark County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Clark County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Clark County ranks 1,306th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on childcare costs and air quality. It does better on cheap car insurance, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Clark County
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 Clark County
The parts of Clark County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Enon & Medway
Crime runs lower, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
New Carlisle
It is quieter and prices have run up less.
Springfield
More households have young kids and more residents vote.
South Charleston
Fewer homes sit empty.
Clark County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 10%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Clark County's strengths and weaknesses
Clark County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cheap car insurance, cell coverage, and low disaster risk carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, air quality, and property taxes hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Clark County to another than it does between Clark County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Clark County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 76% of counties
Where Clark County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$959 a month, better than only 20% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 23% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Clark County
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clark County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,675, 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 Clark County's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Clark County
Clark County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Clark County.
Who works in Clark County, and how
Work in Clark County 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 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Clark County
Clark County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Clark County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Clark County growing, and who is moving in?
Clark County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dayton, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Clark County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Clark County, month by month
Clark County sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Clark County
The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clark County
Schools across Clark County average a B−, better than 64% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Cedarville Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Dohron Wilson Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Mills Lawn Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mechanicsburg Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Southeastern Jr. High SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Northridge Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Mechanicsburg High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Northwestern Junior/senior High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Southeastern Sr. High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clark County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clark County 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 Clark County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Clark County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Clark County
Is Clark County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clark County ranks 1,306th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, cell coverage, and low disaster risk, and lowest on childcare costs and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clark County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $171,571. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $67,675 median income, cost of living beats 52% of counties.
Is Clark County safe?
Clark County is safer than 51% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $321 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Clark County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 21. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Clark County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Enon & Medway, New Carlisle, and Springfield. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Clark County good for families?
Schools beat 64% of counties, crime safety beats 51%, and childcare runs $959 a month.
Is Clark County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 52% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 63% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Clark County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clark County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clark County 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.
Clark County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clark County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clark County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clark County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clark County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clark County 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.