Best PlacesGary, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gary, 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.
Gary ranks 2,097th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Crime pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Gary
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 Gary
The parts of Gary, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Miller Beach, Aetna & Emerson
Glen Park
Tolleston & Tarrytown
Midtown
Pulaski
Brunswick & Ambridge Mann
Downtown West & Downtown Gary
Scores across Gary run from about the 1st to the 36th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Gary's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gary ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 81% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 76% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 75% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 74% of cities
Where Gary ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of cities
- Household income$43,633 median, better than only 1% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 1% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Gary
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gary home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $43,633, 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 Gary's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 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 Gary
Gary'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 Gary.
Who works in Gary, and how
Work in Gary centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Gary
Gary has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gary and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gary, month by month
Gary sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 60° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 83° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Gary
Chicago Midway International sits about 26 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Gary
Schools across Gary average a D−, better than 1% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Henry S Evans Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Virgil I Bailey Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
- Warren G Harding Elementary SchoolD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- Merrillville Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- River Forest Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Lake Ridge New Tech Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Merrillville High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- East Chicago Central High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- River Forest High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gary school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gary 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 Gary against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Gary suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Gary
Is Gary a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gary ranks 2,097th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, state infrastructure, and cell coverage, and lowest on crime and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gary expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $106,305. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $43,633 median income, cost of living beats 1% of cities.
Is Gary safe?
Gary is safer than 0% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,075 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gary?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 22. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Gary?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Miller Beach, Aetna & Emerson, Glen Park, and Tolleston & Tarrytown. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Gary with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gary. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gary 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.
Gary detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gary: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gary: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gary: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gary: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gary 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.