Best PlacesClinton County, IN Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Clinton County, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Clinton County ranks 1,288th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.

#1,288
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Clinton County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Clinton County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Clinton County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Walkability
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Clinton County with other counties.

Where Clinton County ranks high

  • WalkabilityBetter than 92% of counties
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of counties
  • Big-city accessBetter than 83% of counties
  • Low vacancyBetter than 83% of counties
  • Local economyBetter than 79% of counties

Where Clinton County ranks low

  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of counties
  • QuietBetter than only 20% of counties
  • Educational attainmentBetter than only 21% of counties
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 23% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Clinton County

A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clinton County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,683, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$43,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,006
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $168,303 home
Median rent
$931
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$858
Property tax$92
Homeowners insurance$56

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 Clinton County's effective rate of 0.66%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Clinton County

Clinton County runs younger than the country.

Median age
38
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
17%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.6
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1826%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6418%
65 and older17%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clinton County.


Who works in Clinton County, and how

Work in Clinton County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
6%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.2%
below the national average
Job growth
+2.9%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing28%
Health care & social12%
Education8%
Retail trade8%
Transportation & warehousing6%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 92%
  • Work from home 6%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in Clinton County

Clinton County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Clinton County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
121
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 36.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 26% of counties
Coffee shops
12
about 3.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 28% of counties
Parkland
142 acres
about 4.3 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 51% of counties

Is Clinton County growing, and who is moving in?

Clinton County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Indianapolis, IN.

Population growth
+1%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
32,895
up from 32,462
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Indianapolis, IN456 / yr
Lafayette, IN405 / yr
Cincinnati, OH128 / yr
Brownsville, TX110 / yr
Kokomo, IN99 / yr

Where people leaving Clinton County go

Lafayette, IN706 / yr
Indianapolis, IN264 / yr
Kokomo, IN172 / yr
Cass County, IN46 / yr
Milwaukee, WI42 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Clinton County, month by month

Clinton County sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January37°28°19°
April64°50°39°
July84°73°62°
October68°54°43°

Flying in and out of Clinton County

Indianapolis International sits about 42 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.2 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
IND
Indianapolis International, about 42 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
45th-busiest in the US, 92 nonstop destinations
Average drive
60 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Clinton County

Schools across Clinton County average a C+, better than 43% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clinton County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Clinton 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 Clinton County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Clinton County suits

Families

Schools land around the 43rd percentile and crime safety beats 60%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 55%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Clinton County

Is Clinton County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clinton County ranks 1,288th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, cheap car insurance, and big-city access, and lowest on 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 Clinton County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $168,303. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $68,683 median income, cost of living beats 53% of counties.

Is Clinton County safe?

Yes, Clinton County is safer than 60% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Clinton County?

July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 19. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 14% of counties.

Is Clinton County good for families?

Schools beat 43% of counties, crime safety beats 60%, and childcare runs $808 a month.


Compare Clinton County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clinton County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clinton 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.

Clinton County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Clinton County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Clinton County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Clinton County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Clinton County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Clinton County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.