Best PlacesMandale, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mandale, 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.
Mandale ranks 12,522nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mandale
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.
Mandale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mandale ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- Short commute21.1 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 74% of towns
Where Mandale ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 23% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mandale
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mandale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,648, 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 Mandale's effective rate of 1.03%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mandale
Mandale runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mandale.
Who works in Mandale, and how
Work in Mandale centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Mandale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mandale.
What the weather is like in Mandale, month by month
Mandale sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Mandale
The nearest airport, Fort Wayne International, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mandale
Schools across Mandale average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ottoville Elementary SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Oakwood Elementary SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Grover Hill Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Paulding Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Ottoville High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Wayne Trace High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Paulding High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mandale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mandale 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 Mandale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mandale
Is Mandale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mandale ranks 12,522nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and short commutes, and lowest on a weak job market and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mandale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $156,711. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $78,648 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Mandale safe?
Yes, Mandale is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $238 per resident a year.
Compare Mandale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mandale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mandale 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.
Mandale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mandale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mandale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mandale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mandale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mandale 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.