Best PlacesMadison County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Madison County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Madison County ranks 1,667th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on cell coverage and cheap car insurance. The weaker spots are taxes, noise, and the schools.
The best neighborhoods in Madison 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 Madison County
The parts of Madison 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.
Pendleton, Fortville & Lapel
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and schools score higher.
Alexandria
More residents vote, though more homes sit empty.
Elwood & Frankton
Prices have run up less, though fewer households have young kids.
Markleville
It is noisier.
Chesterfield
Tree cover is thicker.
Anderson
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Scores across Madison County run from about the 2nd to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Madison County's strengths and weaknesses
Madison County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage, cheap car insurance, and big-city access carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Taxes, noise, and the schools hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Madison County to another than it does between Madison County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Madison County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 75% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 75% of counties
Where Madison County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 10% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 24% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 25% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Madison County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Madison County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,597, 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 Madison County's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Madison County
Madison 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 Madison County.
Who works in Madison County, and how
Work in Madison County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Madison County
Madison County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Madison County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Madison County growing, and who is moving in?
Madison County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Indianapolis, IN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Madison County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Madison County, month by month
Madison County sees roughly 82 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 Madison County
Indianapolis International sits about 41 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 Madison County
Schools across Madison County average a C−, better than 24% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- East Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Pendleton Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Maple Ridge Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pendleton Heights Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Lapel Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Anderson Intermediate SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Pendleton Heights High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Lapel Sr High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Frankton Jr-sr High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Madison County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Madison 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 Madison County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Madison County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Madison County
Is Madison County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Madison County ranks 1,667th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, cheap car insurance, and big-city access, and lowest on taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Madison County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $160,357. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $67,597 median income, cost of living beats 63% of counties.
Is Madison County safe?
Madison County is safer than 46% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Madison County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 24. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Madison County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Pendleton, Fortville & Lapel, Alexandria, and Elwood & Frankton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Madison County good for families?
Schools beat 24% of counties, crime safety beats 46%, and childcare runs $813 a month.
Is Madison County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 63% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 74% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Madison County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Madison County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Madison 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.
Madison County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Madison County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Madison County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Madison County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Madison County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Madison 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.