Best PlacesKnox County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Knox County, 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.
Knox County ranks 493rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Knox County
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 Knox County
The parts of Knox County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Centerburg
More households have young kids, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Gambier
More adults hold degrees and commutes are shorter.
Apple Valley & Danville
Tree cover is thicker, though more homes sit empty.
Fredericktown
Prices have run up less.
Mount Vernon
It is noisier and crime runs higher.
Scores across Knox County run from about the 16th to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Knox County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Knox County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 94% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 84% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of counties
Where Knox County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Knox County
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Knox County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,672, 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 Knox County'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 and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Knox County
Knox County'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 Knox County.
Who works in Knox County, and how
Work in Knox County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Knox County
Knox County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 94% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Knox County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Knox County growing, and who is moving in?
Knox County has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Columbus, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Knox County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Knox County, month by month
Knox County sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 51° | 42° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Knox County
John Glenn Columbus International sits about 36 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 94 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Knox County
Schools across Knox County average an A−, better than 94% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- East Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Wiggin Street Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Centerburg Elementary SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fredericktown Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Centerburg Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Mount Vernon Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Fredericktown High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Danville High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Centerburg High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Knox County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Knox County 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 Knox County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Knox County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Knox County
Is Knox County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Knox County ranks 493rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and heat safety, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Knox County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $246,945. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $75,672 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is Knox County safe?
Yes, Knox County is safer than 82% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Knox County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 23. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Knox County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Centerburg, Gambier, and Apple Valley & Danville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Knox County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Knox County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Knox County 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.
Knox County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Knox County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Knox County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Knox County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Knox County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Knox County 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.