Best PlacesLafayette, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Lafayette metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Jim Hammer from Lafayette, Indiana, USA, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Lafayette ranks 182nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and the weather. It does better on cheap car insurance, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Lafayette 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 Lafayette
The towns and districts of the Lafayette 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.
Downtown Lafayette
More households have young kids, fewer homes sit empty, and biking is better.
West Lafayette
More adults hold degrees, though fewer residents vote.
Williamsport
Local pay stretches further, though advertised internet is slower.
Delphi & Flora
Crime runs lower, though health outcomes score lower.
Fowler
Homes cost less, though tree cover is thinner.
Lafayette shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 7% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Lafayette's strengths and weaknesses
Lafayette lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cheap car insurance, short commutes, and biking carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, the weather, and civic engagement hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Lafayette ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Short commute19.2 minutes each way, better than 91% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of metro areas
Where Lafayette ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of metro areas
- Household income$69,734 median, better than only 22% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 22% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Lafayette
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lafayette home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,734, 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 Lafayette's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lafayette
Lafayette runs younger 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 Lafayette.
Who works in Lafayette, and how
Work in Lafayette centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Lafayette
Lafayette has more late-night spots per resident than 76% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Lafayette and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lafayette growing, and who is moving in?
Lafayette has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Indianapolis, IN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lafayette go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lafayette, month by month
Lafayette sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 19° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Lafayette
Indianapolis International sits about 56 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 Lafayette
Schools across Lafayette average a B, better than 71% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Hershey Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Burnett Creek Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Battle Ground Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Tipp Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Klondike Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Battle Ground Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- William Henry Harrison High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Mccutcheon High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Clinton Prairie Jr-sr High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lafayette school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lafayette 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 Lafayette against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Lafayette suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lafayette
Is Lafayette a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lafayette ranks 182nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, short commutes, and biking, 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 Lafayette expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $229,090. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $69,734 median income, cost of living beats 22% of metro areas.
Is Lafayette safe?
Lafayette is safer than 31% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $349 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lafayette?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 19. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 12% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lafayette?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Lafayette, West Lafayette, and Williamsport. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lafayette good for families?
Schools beat 71% of metro areas, crime safety beats 31%, and childcare runs $783 a month.
Is Lafayette good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 22% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 82% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lafayette with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lafayette. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lafayette 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.
Lafayette detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lafayette: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lafayette: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lafayette: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lafayette: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lafayette 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.