Best PlacesGarfield Heights, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garfield Heights, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Garfield Heights ranks 1,910th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Garfield Heights
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.
Garfield Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Garfield Heights ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- TransitBetter than 91% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of cities
- Short commute21.3 minutes each way, better than 81% of cities
Where Garfield Heights ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 4% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Garfield Heights
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garfield Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,151, 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 Garfield Heights' effective rate of 2.40%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Garfield Heights
Garfield Heights's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Garfield Heights.
Who works in Garfield Heights, and how
Work in Garfield Heights centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Garfield Heights
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garfield Heights.
What the weather is like in Garfield Heights, month by month
Garfield Heights sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 60° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 76° | 69° |
| October | 68° | 59° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Garfield Heights
Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 13 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 Garfield Heights
Schools across Garfield Heights average a D, better than 4% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Cuyahoga Hts Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Elmwood Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Maple Leaf Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cuyahoga Hts Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Garfield Heights Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Cuyahoga Hts High SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Garfield Heights High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garfield Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garfield Heights 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 Garfield Heights against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Garfield Heights suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Garfield Heights
Is Garfield Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garfield Heights ranks 1,910th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, transit, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on crime and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garfield Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $107,806. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $59,151 median income, cost of living beats 19% of cities.
Is Garfield Heights safe?
Garfield Heights is safer than 1% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $606 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Garfield Heights?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 25. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of cities.
Is Garfield Heights good for families?
Schools beat 4% of cities, crime safety beats 1%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Garfield Heights with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garfield Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garfield Heights 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.
Garfield Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garfield Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garfield Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garfield Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garfield Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garfield Heights 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.