Best PlacesIndianapolis, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Indianapolis metro, 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.
Photo by Garkino at English Wikipedia, via commons
Indianapolis ranks 136th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on what local pay buys and a strong job market. The weaker spots are noise, the weather, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in the Indianapolis metro
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 Indianapolis
The towns and districts of the Indianapolis metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Carmel & Westfield
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Zionsville, Lebanon & Whitestown
Schools score higher and crime runs lower.
Fishers, Anderson & Noblesville
Transit reaches fewer jobs.
Shelbyville & New Palestine
Fewer homes sit empty, though biking is worse.
Plainfield, Martinsville & Mooresville
Tree cover is thicker.
Lawrence & Greenfield
More households have young kids.
Greenwood & Franklin
Scores close to Lawrence & Greenfield, except that it is noisier here.
Brownsburg, Avon & Speedway
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Downtown Indianapolis
Streets are more walkable, though prices have run up more.
Indianapolis shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Indianapolis' strengths and weaknesses
Indianapolis lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. What local pay buys, a strong job market, and cheap car insurance carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. The weather and air quality also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Indianapolis ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 79% of metro areas
Where Indianapolis ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 18% of metro areas
- Short commute25.5 minutes each way, better than only 23% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Indianapolis
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Indianapolis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,885, 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 Indianapolis' effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Indianapolis
Indianapolis'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 Indianapolis.
Who works in Indianapolis, and how
Work in Indianapolis centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Indianapolis
Indianapolis has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Indianapolis and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Indianapolis growing, and who is moving in?
Indianapolis has grown about 12% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Indianapolis go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Indianapolis, month by month
Indianapolis sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 22° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Indianapolis
Indianapolis International sits about 9 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.2 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Indianapolis
Schools across Indianapolis average a B−, better than 55% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- West Clay Elementary SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- College Wood Elementary SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Oak Trace Elementary SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top middle schools
- Creekside Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Merle Sidener Gifted AcademyA+ · 74% proficient
- Brownsburg West Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
Top high schools
- Zionsville Community High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Carmel High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Westfield High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Indianapolis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Indianapolis 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 Indianapolis against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Indianapolis suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Indianapolis
Is Indianapolis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Indianapolis ranks 136th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on what local pay buys, a strong job market, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Indianapolis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $282,696. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $91,885 median income, cost of living beats 94% of metro areas.
Is Indianapolis safe?
Indianapolis is safer than 35% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $331 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Indianapolis?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 22. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 3% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Indianapolis?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Carmel & Westfield, Zionsville, Lebanon & Whitestown, and Fishers, Anderson & Noblesville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Indianapolis good for families?
Schools beat 55% of metro areas, crime safety beats 35%, and childcare runs $964 a month.
Is Indianapolis good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 82% of metro areas. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Indianapolis with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Indianapolis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Indianapolis 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.
Indianapolis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Indianapolis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Indianapolis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Indianapolis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Indianapolis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Indianapolis 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.