Best PlacesMason, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mason, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mason ranks 43rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mason
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.
Mason's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mason ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of cities
Where Mason ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 21% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 25% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Mason
A household needs to earn about $124,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mason home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $142,452, 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 Mason's effective rate of 1.28%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mason
Mason's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mason.
Who works in Mason, and how
Work in Mason centers on manufacturing and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Mason
Mason has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mason and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mason, month by month
Mason sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 69° | 54° | 41° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 64° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Mason
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 28 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Mason
Schools across Mason average an A+, better than 99% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mason Intermediate Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- J F Burns Elementary SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Kings Mills Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mason Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Kings Junior High SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Lebanon Junior HighA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- William Mason High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Sycamore High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Kings High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mason school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mason 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 Mason against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Mason suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of cities and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Mason
Is Mason a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mason ranks 43rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on good schools, what local pay buys, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on the weather and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mason expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $446,830. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $142,452 median income, cost of living beats 96% of cities.
Is Mason safe?
Yes, Mason is safer than 76% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $225 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mason?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 23. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 9% of cities.
Is Mason good for families?
Schools beat 99% of cities, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Mason with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mason. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mason 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.
Mason detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mason: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mason: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mason: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mason: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mason 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.