Best PlacesDelaware County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Delaware 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.
Delaware County ranks 1,914th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and the weather. It does better on cell coverage, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Delaware 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 Delaware County
The parts of Delaware 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.
Yorktown
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Gaston
Crime runs lower and fewer homes sit empty.
Daleville
More households have young kids, though biking is worse.
Albany & Eaton
Streets are more car-dependent and prices have run up more.
Muncie
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Delaware County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Delaware County's strengths and weaknesses
Delaware County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage, transit, and biking carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. The weather and civic engagement also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Delaware County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of counties
- TransitBetter than 92% of counties
- BikingBetter than 90% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 76% of counties
Where Delaware County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Delaware County
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Delaware County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,843, 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 Delaware County's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Delaware County
Delaware 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 Delaware County.
Who works in Delaware County, and how
Work in Delaware County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Delaware County
Delaware County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 84% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Delaware County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Delaware County growing, and who is moving in?
Delaware County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Indianapolis, IN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Delaware County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Delaware County, month by month
Delaware County sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 30° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Delaware County
The nearest airport, Fort Wayne International, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Delaware County
Schools across Delaware County average a C, better than 35% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Royerton Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Selma Elementary SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Yorktown Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Selma Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Delta Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Yorktown Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Indiana Academy For Sci Math HmnA+ · 93% proficient
- Delta High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Yorktown High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Delaware County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Delaware 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 Delaware County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Delaware County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Delaware County
Is Delaware County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Delaware County ranks 1,914th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, transit, and biking, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Delaware County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $142,036. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $64,843 median income, cost of living beats 40% of counties.
Is Delaware County safe?
Delaware County is safer than 17% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $467 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Delaware County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 22. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 8% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Delaware County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Yorktown, Gaston, and Daleville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Delaware County good for families?
Schools beat 35% of counties, crime safety beats 17%, and childcare runs $747 a month.
Is Delaware County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 40% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 66% of counties. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Delaware County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Delaware County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Delaware 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.
Delaware County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Delaware County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Delaware County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Delaware County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Delaware County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Delaware 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.