Best PlacesDodds, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dodds, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dodds ranks 2,996th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dodds
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.
Dodds' strengths and weaknesses
Where Dodds ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Dodds ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 11% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dodds
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dodds home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $103,117, 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 Dodds' effective rate of 1.19%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Dodds
Dodds runs older than the country, 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 Dodds.
Who works in Dodds, and how
Work in Dodds centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Dodds
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dodds.
What the weather is like in Dodds, month by month
Dodds sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 41, 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 | 41° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Dodds
The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dodds
Schools across Dodds average an A+, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- DennisA+ · 78% proficient
- Waynesville Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Springboro Junior High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Waynesville Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Lebanon Junior HighA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Springboro High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Waynesville High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Lebanon High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dodds school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dodds 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 Dodds against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dodds
Is Dodds a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dodds ranks 2,996th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and civic engagement, and lowest on the weather and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dodds expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $336,839. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $103,117 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Dodds safe?
Dodds is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $253 per resident a year.
Compare Dodds with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dodds. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dodds 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.
Dodds detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dodds: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dodds: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dodds: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dodds: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dodds 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.
- 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.