Best PlacesCuyahoga County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cuyahoga 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.
Cuyahoga County ranks 763rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and noise. It does better on transit, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Cuyahoga 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 Cuyahoga County
The parts of Cuyahoga 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.
Strongsville, Parma & North Olmsted
Crime runs lower, fewer homes sit empty, and schools score higher.
Broadview Heights, Garfield Heights & Brecksville
Local pay stretches further and incomes run higher.
Cleveland, Westlake & Lakewood
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Shaker Heights & Warrensville Heights
More adults hold degrees and it is quieter.
Solon, Maple Heights & Bedford
More households have young kids.
Euclid, Cleveland Heights & South Euclid
Scores close to Solon, Maple Heights & Bedford, except that transit reaches more jobs here.
Newburgh Heights
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Cuyahoga County 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.
Cuyahoga County's strengths and weaknesses
Cuyahoga County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Transit is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Walkability and biking follow.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. Noise and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Cuyahoga County ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 97% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of counties
Where Cuyahoga County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cuyahoga County
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cuyahoga County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,655, 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 Cuyahoga County's effective rate of 1.85%, 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 Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga 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 Cuyahoga County.
Who works in Cuyahoga County, and how
Work in Cuyahoga County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County has more parkland per resident than 67% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 81% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cuyahoga County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cuyahoga County growing, and who is moving in?
Cuyahoga County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Cleveland, OH metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cuyahoga County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cuyahoga County, month by month
Cuyahoga County sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, 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 | 38° | 30° | 23° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Cuyahoga County
Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 10 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.9 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cuyahoga County
Schools across Cuyahoga County average a B−, better than 67% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Parkside Elementary SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Dorothy E Lewis Elementary SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Grace L Roxbury Elementary SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Top middle schools
- Orchard Middle SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Chagrin Falls Intermediate Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Solon Middle SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
Top high schools
- Rocky River High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Chagrin Falls High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Bay High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cuyahoga County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cuyahoga 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 Cuyahoga County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cuyahoga County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 16% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Cuyahoga County
Is Cuyahoga County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cuyahoga County ranks 763rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and biking, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cuyahoga County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,733. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $77,655 median income, cost of living beats 81% of counties.
Is Cuyahoga County safe?
Cuyahoga County is safer than 9% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $575 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cuyahoga County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 23. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cuyahoga County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Strongsville, Parma & North Olmsted, Broadview Heights, Garfield Heights & Brecksville, and Cleveland, Westlake & Lakewood. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cuyahoga County good for families?
Schools beat 67% of counties, crime safety beats 9%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Is Cuyahoga County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 84% of counties. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cuyahoga County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cuyahoga County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cuyahoga 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.
Cuyahoga County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cuyahoga County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cuyahoga County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cuyahoga County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cuyahoga County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cuyahoga 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.