Best PlacesMedina County, OH Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Medina County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Medina County ranks 68th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $102,386, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, property taxes, and state finances.

#68
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Medina County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Medina County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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 Medina County

The parts of Medina 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.

#1

Hinckley

Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.

WorseBetter
91st nationally
#2

Valley City & Litchfield

It is quieter and crime runs lower.

WorseBetter
89th nationally
#3

Medina

More adults hold degrees and advertised internet is faster.

WorseBetter
86th nationally
#4

Wadsworth

Homes cost less.

WorseBetter
81st nationally
#5

Brunswick

Tree cover is thinner.

WorseBetter
79th nationally
#6

Spencer

Fewer residents vote and commutes are longer.

WorseBetter
76th nationally
#7

Seville

WorseBetter
71st nationally
#8

Lodi

More homes sit empty and health outcomes score lower.

WorseBetter
60th nationally

Scores across Medina County run from about the 26th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.


Medina County's strengths and weaknesses

#68Best US county overall
Top 3%Good schools
Top 3%Few empty homes
Top 3%Cheap car insurance

Medina County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Good schools is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Few empty homes and cheap car insurance follow.

The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, property taxes, and state finances hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Medina County with other counties.

Where Medina County ranks high

  • School gradeA, better than 99% of counties
  • Low vacancyBetter than 98% of counties
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of counties
  • Crime safetyBetter than 96% of counties
  • Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of counties

Where Medina County ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 8% of counties
  • Low property taxBetter than only 20% of counties
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 75 pleasant days a year, better than only 30% of counties
  • Air qualityBetter than only 31% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Medina County

A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Medina County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,386, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$83,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,941
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $302,272 home
Median rent
$1,305
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,541
Property tax$300
Homeowners insurance$101

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 Medina County's effective rate of 1.19%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Medina County

Medina County runs older than the country.

Median age
44
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
20%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1821%
18 to 3419%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6421%
65 and older20%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Medina County.


Who works in Medina County, and how

Work in Medina County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
15%
about the national average
Unemployment
3.3%
below the national average
Job growth
+0.7%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social14%
Manufacturing14%
Retail trade12%
Education8%
Construction7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 82%
  • Work from home 15%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in Medina County

Medina County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 84% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Medina County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
632
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 34.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 22% of counties
Coffee shops
61
about 3.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 23% of counties
Parkland
1,646 acres
about 9.0 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 84% of counties
Open past 10pm
~117
food and drink venues open late, about 6.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 46% of counties

Is Medina County growing, and who is moving in?

Medina County has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Cleveland, OH metro.

Population growth
+5%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
184,625
up from 175,855
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

The rest of the Cleveland, OH metro2,789 / yr
Akron, OH1,629 / yr
Wayne County, OH437 / yr
Columbus, OH400 / yr
Youngstown, OH220 / yr

Where people leaving Medina County go

The rest of the Cleveland, OH metro3,728 / yr
Akron, OH1,532 / yr
Wayne County, OH783 / yr
Columbus, OH385 / yr
Toledo, OH251 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Medina County, month by month

Medina County sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January38°30°23°
April63°50°40°
July86°76°65°
October69°57°47°

Flying in and out of Medina County

Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 18 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.9 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
CLE
Cleveland-Hopkins International, about 18 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
46th-busiest in the US, 72 nonstop destinations
Average drive
26 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Medina County

Schools across Medina County average an A, better than 99% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Medina County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Medina 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 Medina County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Medina County suits

Families

Schools beat 99% of counties and crime safety beats 96%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 94%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Medina County

Is Medina County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Medina County ranks 68th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, few empty homes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Medina County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $302,272. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $102,386 median income, cost of living beats 95% of counties.

Is Medina County safe?

Yes, Medina County is safer than 96% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $196 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Medina County?

July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 23. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of counties.

What are the best neighborhoods in Medina County?

Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hinckley, Valley City & Litchfield, and Medina. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.

Is Medina County good for families?

Schools beat 99% of counties, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.

Is Medina County good for remote workers?

Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 96% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.


Compare Medina County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Medina County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Medina 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.

Medina County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Medina County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Medina County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Medina County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Medina County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Medina County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.