Best PlacesLucas County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lucas County, 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.
Lucas County ranks 922nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and childcare costs. It does better on fast internet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Lucas 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 Lucas County
The parts of Lucas 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.
Sylvania
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Maumee, Holland & Waterville
Crime runs lower and more residents vote.
Toledo
Scores close to Maumee, Holland & Waterville, except that homes cost less here.
Ottawa Hills
More homes sit empty and health care is harder to reach.
Oregon
Health outcomes score lower and schools score lower.
Lucas County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Lucas County's strengths and weaknesses
Lucas County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet, cheap car insurance, and low disaster risk carry most of that.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. Childcare costs and noise also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Lucas County to another than it does between Lucas County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Lucas County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of counties
Where Lucas County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 10% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lucas County
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lucas County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,388, 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 Lucas County's effective rate of 1.64%, 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 Lucas County
Lucas County'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 Lucas County.
Who works in Lucas County, and how
Work in Lucas County 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 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lucas County
Lucas County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of counties and more parkland per resident than 89% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lucas County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lucas County growing, and who is moving in?
Lucas County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Toledo, OH metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lucas County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lucas County, month by month
Lucas County sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Lucas County
The nearest airport, Eugene F Kranz Toledo Express, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 41 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lucas County
Schools across Lucas County average a B+, better than 89% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Ottawa Hills Elementary SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Whitehouse Primary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Waterville Primary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fallen Timbers Middle SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Anthony Wayne Junior High SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Sylvania Timberstone Junior High SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Ottawa Hills High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Toledo Early College High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Sylvania Northview High SchoolA · 74% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lucas County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lucas 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 Lucas County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lucas County 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 Lucas County
Is Lucas County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lucas County ranks 922nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, cheap car insurance, and low disaster risk, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lucas County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,591. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $74,388 median income, cost of living beats 63% of counties.
Is Lucas County safe?
Lucas County is safer than 14% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $502 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lucas County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 22. That works out to about 79 pleasant days a year, more than 37% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lucas County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sylvania, Maumee, Holland & Waterville, and Toledo. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lucas County good for families?
Schools beat 89% of counties, crime safety beats 14%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Is Lucas County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 63% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 95% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lucas County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lucas County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lucas 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.
Lucas County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lucas County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lucas County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lucas County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lucas County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lucas 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.