Best PlacesHowe, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Howe, 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.
Howe ranks 24,417th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Howe
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.
Howe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Howe ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 80% of towns
Where Howe ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Howe
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Howe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,634, 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 Howe's effective rate of 0.41%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Howe
Howe's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Howe.
Who works in Howe, and how
Work in Howe centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Howe
Howe has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Howe and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Howe, month by month
Howe sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Howe
The nearest airport, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Howe
Schools across Howe average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Topeka Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Shipshewana-scott Elementary SchB− · 43% proficient
- Prairie Heights Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westview Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Prairie Heights Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Prairie Heights Sr High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Westview Jr-sr High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Lakeland Jr/sr High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Howe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Howe 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 Howe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Howe
Is Howe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Howe ranks 24,417th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, cheap car insurance, and short commutes, and lowest on education levels and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Howe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,877. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $90,634 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Howe safe?
Howe is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $405 per resident a year.
Compare Howe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Howe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Howe 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.
Howe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Howe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Howe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Howe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Howe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Howe 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.