Best PlacesHammond, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hammond, 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.
Hammond ranks 2,012th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hammond
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 Hammond
The parts of Hammond, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
South Hammond
Columbia Center & Calumet Center
Turner-Meyn Park & Forestdale
Forsyth Highlands
Pulaski Park
North Hammond & Central Hammond
Scores across Hammond run from about the 2nd to the 59th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Hammond's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hammond ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 83% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 81% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 79% of cities
Where Hammond ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 4% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of cities
- Household income$58,719 median, better than only 7% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Hammond
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hammond home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,719, 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 Hammond's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 Hammond
Hammond runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hammond.
Who works in Hammond, and how
Work in Hammond centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Hammond
Hammond has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hammond and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hammond, month by month
Hammond sees roughly 70 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 Hammond
Chicago Midway International sits about 19 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 Hammond
Schools across Hammond average a D, better than 4% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Ernest R Elliott Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Washington G Elem SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Addams Elem SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wilbur Wright Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Schrum Memorial SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Whiting Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Munster High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Whiting High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Hammond Academy Of Science & TechC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hammond school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hammond 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 Hammond against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Hammond suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Hammond
Is Hammond a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hammond ranks 2,012th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and low disaster risk, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hammond expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,484. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $58,719 median income, cost of living beats 7% of cities.
Is Hammond safe?
Hammond is safer than 2% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $572 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hammond?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 22. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hammond?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are South Hammond, Columbia Center & Calumet Center, and Turner-Meyn Park & Forestdale. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Hammond with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hammond. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hammond 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.
Hammond detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hammond: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hammond: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hammond: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hammond: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hammond 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.