Best PlacesMahoning County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Mahoning 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.
Mahoning County ranks 1,216th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and a weak job market. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Mahoning 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 Mahoning County
The parts of Mahoning 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.
New Middletown & Poland
Schools score higher, more adults hold degrees, and more residents vote.
North Lima
Local pay stretches further, though fewer households have young kids.
Canfield, Sebring & Salem
Crime runs lower and incomes run higher.
Austintown
Advertised internet is faster, though it is noisier.
Boardman
Biking is better.
Struthers & Campbell
Homes cost less, though more homes sit empty.
Youngstown
Health care is harder to reach and health outcomes score lower.
Mahoning County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Mahoning County's strengths and weaknesses
Mahoning County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and transit carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Property taxes, a weak job market, and childcare costs hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Mahoning County to another than it does between Mahoning County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Mahoning County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of counties
- TransitBetter than 90% of counties
- BikingBetter than 87% of counties
- School gradeB, better than 83% of counties
Where Mahoning County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of counties
- Cheap childcare$959 a month, better than only 20% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 20% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Mahoning County
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mahoning County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,066, 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 Mahoning County's effective rate of 1.27%, 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 Mahoning County
Mahoning County runs older 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 Mahoning County.
Who works in Mahoning County, and how
Work in Mahoning County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Mahoning County
Mahoning County has more parkland per resident than 95% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 92% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mahoning County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Mahoning County growing, and who is moving in?
Mahoning County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Youngstown, OH metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Mahoning County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Mahoning County, month by month
Mahoning County sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 86° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Mahoning County
The nearest airport, Akron-Canton Regional, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mahoning County
Schools across Mahoning County average a B, better than 83% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- South Range Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- C H Campbell Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Springfield Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Canfield Village Middle SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- South Range Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- South Side Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- Canfield High SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Columbiana High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Poland Seminary High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mahoning County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mahoning 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 Mahoning County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Mahoning County suits
Common questions about living in Mahoning County
Is Mahoning County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mahoning County ranks 1,216th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mahoning County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,568. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $63,066 median income, cost of living beats 35% of counties.
Is Mahoning County safe?
Mahoning County is safer than 26% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $407 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mahoning County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 20. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Mahoning County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are New Middletown & Poland, North Lima, and Canfield, Sebring & Salem. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Mahoning County good for families?
Schools beat 83% of counties, crime safety beats 26%, and childcare runs $959 a month.
Is Mahoning County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 35% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 58% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Mahoning County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mahoning County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mahoning 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.
Mahoning County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mahoning County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mahoning County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mahoning County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mahoning County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mahoning 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.