Best PlacesCleveland, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Cleveland metro, 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.
Photo by XJ316, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Cleveland ranks 230th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on biking and health outcomes. It does better on state finances, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Cleveland 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 Cleveland
The towns and districts of the Cleveland 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.
Downtown Cleveland
Local pay stretches further, fewer homes sit empty, and incomes run higher.
Benton
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
South Cleveland
Scores close to Benton, except that prices have run up more here.
Old Fort & Copperhill
Homes cost less, though fewer households have young kids.
Scores across Cleveland run from about the 7th to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cleveland's strengths and weaknesses
Cleveland lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State finances is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Tree cover and low property taxes follow.
The one real hole is biking, near the bottom of the country. Health outcomes and walkability also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Cleveland ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 95% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 88% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 81% of metro areas
Where Cleveland ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Cleveland
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cleveland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,152, 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 Cleveland's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 Cleveland
Cleveland'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 Cleveland.
Who works in Cleveland, and how
Work in Cleveland centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cleveland
Cleveland has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cleveland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cleveland growing, and who is moving in?
Cleveland has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chattanooga, TN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cleveland go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cleveland, month by month
Cleveland sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 42° | 32° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 49° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 64° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Cleveland
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 109 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cleveland
Schools across Cleveland average a C+, better than 32% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Michigan Avenue Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Park View Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Candy's Creek Cherokee Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ocoee Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Chilhowee Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Lake Forest Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Polk County High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Walker Valley High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Cleveland HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cleveland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cleveland 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 Cleveland against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Cleveland suits
Families
Schools land around the 32nd percentile and crime safety beats 76%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cleveland
Is Cleveland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cleveland ranks 230th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state finances, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on biking and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cleveland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,333. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $69,152 median income, cost of living beats 43% of metro areas.
Is Cleveland safe?
Yes, Cleveland is safer than 76% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $371 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cleveland?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 32. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 12% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cleveland?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Cleveland, Benton, and South Cleveland. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cleveland good for families?
Schools beat 32% of metro areas, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $776 a month.
Is Cleveland good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 43% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 72% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cleveland with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cleveland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cleveland 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.
Cleveland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cleveland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cleveland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cleveland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cleveland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cleveland 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.