Best PlacesLorain, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lorain, 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.
Lorain ranks 1,887th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lorain
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.
Lorain's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lorain ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 70% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 69% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 68% of cities
Where Lorain ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of cities
- Household income$55,005 median, better than only 4% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Lorain
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lorain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,005, 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 Lorain's effective rate of 1.31%, 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 Lorain
Lorain's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Lorain.
Who works in Lorain, and how
Work in Lorain centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lorain
Lorain has more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Lorain and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lorain, month by month
Lorain sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Lorain
Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 17 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.9 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lorain
Schools across Lorain average a D+, better than 14% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Westview Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Firelands Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Powers Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Troy Intermediate Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Amherst Junior High SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Firelands Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Avon Lake High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Marion L Steele High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Firelands High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lorain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lorain 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 Lorain against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Lorain suits
Common questions about living in Lorain
Is Lorain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lorain ranks 1,887th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and clean air, and lowest on health outcomes and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lorain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $138,101. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $55,005 median income, cost of living beats 10% of cities.
Is Lorain safe?
Lorain is safer than 15% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $424 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lorain?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 21. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of cities.
Is Lorain good for families?
Schools beat 14% of cities, crime safety beats 15%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Lorain with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lorain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lorain 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.
Lorain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lorain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lorain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lorain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lorain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lorain 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.