Best PlacesDarke County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Darke 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.
Darke County ranks 766th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Darke 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 Darke County
The parts of Darke 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.
Versailles
Schools score higher, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Arcanum
Fewer homes sit empty, though commutes are longer.
Greenville
Advertised internet is faster, though fewer households have young kids.
Union City
Prices have run up more and fewer adults hold degrees.
Scores across Darke County run from about the 14th to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Darke County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Darke County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 95% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 83% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 81% of counties
Where Darke County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 28% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 34% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Darke County
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Darke County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,974, 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 Darke County's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Darke County
Darke County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Darke County.
Who works in Darke County, and how
Work in Darke 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 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Darke County
Darke County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 74% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Darke County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Darke County growing, and who is moving in?
Darke 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 Darke County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Darke County, month by month
Darke County sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Darke County
The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Darke County
Schools across Darke County average an A−, better than 95% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Russia Elementary SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Fort Loramie Elementary SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Minster Elementary SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
Top middle schools
- St Henry Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Versailles Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Fort Recovery Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Loramie Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- St Henry High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Russia High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Darke County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Darke 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 Darke County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Darke County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Darke County
Is Darke County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Darke County ranks 766th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and few empty homes, and lowest on tree cover and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Darke County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,165. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $66,974 median income, cost of living beats 46% of counties.
Is Darke County safe?
Darke County is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $291 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Darke County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 23. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Darke County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Versailles, Arcanum, and Greenville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Darke County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Darke County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Darke 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.
Darke County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Darke County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Darke County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Darke County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Darke County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Darke 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.