Best PlacesMeigs County, OH Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Meigs County, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Meigs County ranks 2,548th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.

#2,548
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 Meigs County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Meigs 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.

Meigs County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Cheap car insurance
Top 10%A stable housing market
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Meigs County with other counties.

Where Meigs County ranks high

  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of counties
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of counties
  • Tree shadeBetter than 78% of counties
  • QuietBetter than 78% of counties
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 77% of counties

Where Meigs County ranks low

  • Health outlookBetter than only 3% of counties
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of counties
  • Household income$49,636 median, better than only 8% of counties
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Meigs County

A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Meigs County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,636, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$36,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$833
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $135,190 home
Median rent
$858
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$689
Property tax$99
Homeowners insurance$45

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 Meigs County's effective rate of 0.88%, 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.

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

Who lives in Meigs County

Meigs County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
45
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
22%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1819%
18 to 3419%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6421%
65 and older22%

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


Who works in Meigs County, and how

Work in Meigs County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
6%
below the national average
Unemployment
6.3%
above the national average
Job growth
+1.0%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social17%
Retail trade14%
Manufacturing12%
Construction9%
Education8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 92%
  • Work from home 6%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in Meigs County

Meigs County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of counties and more parkland per resident than 67% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Meigs County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
517
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 232.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 93% of counties
Coffee shops
37
about 16.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 89% of counties
Parkland
135 acres
about 6.1 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 67% of counties

Is Meigs County growing, and who is moving in?

Meigs County has lost about 8% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Athens County, OH.

Population growth
-8%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
21,491
down from 23,277
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Athens County, OH235 / yr
Salt Lake City, UT135 / yr
Mason County, WV121 / yr
Columbus, OH113 / yr
Gallia County, OH83 / yr

Where people leaving Meigs County go

Athens County, OH366 / yr
Mercer County, OH172 / yr
Gallia County, OH136 / yr
Jackson County, WV59 / yr
Columbus, OH51 / yr

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


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

Meigs County sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January43°32°22°
April69°54°40°
July88°75°64°
October71°56°43°

Flying in and out of Meigs County

The nearest airport, Mid-Ohio Valley Regional, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 80 miles away.

Nearest airport
PKB
Mid-Ohio Valley Regional, about 36 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
2 nonstop destinations
Average drive
52 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Meigs County

Schools across Meigs County average a C+, better than 53% 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 Meigs County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Meigs 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 Meigs County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Meigs County suits

Families

Schools land around the 53rd percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

6% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

It is quieter than 78%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Meigs County

Is Meigs County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Meigs County ranks 2,548th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, a stable housing market, and tree cover, and lowest on health outcomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Meigs County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $135,190. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $49,636 median income, cost of living beats 7% of counties.

Is Meigs County safe?

Meigs County is safer than 45% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $315 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Meigs County?

July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 22. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 8% of counties.

Is Meigs County good for families?

Schools beat 53% of counties, crime safety beats 45%, and childcare runs $764 a month.


Compare Meigs County with other counties


Sources and methodology

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

Meigs County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

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

Meigs 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.