Best PlacesLa Paz, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around La Paz, 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.
La Paz ranks 34,172nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in La Paz
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.
La Paz's strengths and weaknesses
Where La Paz ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where La Paz ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 18% of towns
- Household income$56,582 median, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in La Paz
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Paz home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,582, 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 La Paz's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in La Paz
La Paz runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for La Paz.
Who works in La Paz, and how
Work in La Paz 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 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in La Paz
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across La Paz.
What the weather is like in La Paz, month by month
La Paz sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of La Paz
The nearest airport, South Bend International, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 78 miles away.
The best schools in and around La Paz
Schools across La Paz average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Laville Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Laville Jr-sr High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every La Paz school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
La Paz 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 La Paz against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in La Paz
Is La Paz a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Paz ranks 34,172nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, cheap car insurance, and big-city access, and lowest on noise and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is La Paz expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $140,203. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $56,582 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is La Paz safe?
La Paz is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
Compare La Paz with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Paz. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Paz 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.
La Paz detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Paz: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Paz: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Paz: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Paz: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Paz 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.