Best PlacesHeadlee, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Headlee, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Headlee ranks 18,321st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Headlee
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.
Headlee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Headlee ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 83% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where Headlee ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Headlee
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Headlee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,102, 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 Headlee's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Headlee
Headlee runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Headlee.
Who works in Headlee, and how
Work in Headlee centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Headlee
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Headlee.
What the weather is like in Headlee, month by month
Headlee sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Headlee
The nearest airport, South Bend International, is about 59 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 83 miles away.
The best schools in and around Headlee
Schools across Headlee average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eastern Pulaski Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Pioneer Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Winamac Community Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Pioneer Jr-sr High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Winamac Community High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Headlee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Headlee 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 Headlee against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Headlee
Is Headlee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Headlee ranks 18,321st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, big-city access, and a strong job market, and lowest on taxes and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Headlee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,288. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $81,102 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Headlee safe?
Yes, Headlee is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $209 per resident a year.
Compare Headlee with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Headlee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Headlee 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.
Headlee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Headlee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Headlee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Headlee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Headlee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Headlee 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.