Best PlacesLapel, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lapel, 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.
Lapel ranks 11,070th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lapel
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.
Lapel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lapel ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Lapel ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 18% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lapel
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lapel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,978, 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 Lapel's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lapel
Lapel runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lapel.
Who works in Lapel, and how
Work in Lapel centers on health care & social 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 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Lapel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lapel.
What the weather is like in Lapel, month by month
Lapel sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 29° | 24° |
| April | 62° | 51° | 43° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Lapel
Indianapolis International sits about 34 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 Lapel
Schools across Lapel average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pendleton Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Hamilton Heights Elementary SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Lapel Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fall Creek Junior HighA− · 57% proficient
- Pendleton Heights Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Lapel Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Hamilton Southeastern HsA · 73% proficient
- Pendleton Heights High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Lapel Sr High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lapel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lapel 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 Lapel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lapel
Is Lapel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lapel ranks 11,070th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and biking, and lowest on taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lapel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,054. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $82,978 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Lapel safe?
Lapel is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Lapel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lapel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lapel 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.
Lapel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lapel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lapel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lapel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lapel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lapel 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.