Best PlacesMentone, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mentone, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mentone ranks 20,203rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mentone
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.
Mentone's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mentone ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 81% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
Where Mentone ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 14% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 25% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mentone
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mentone home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,396, 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 Mentone's effective rate of 0.62%, 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.
Who lives in Mentone
Mentone runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mentone.
Who works in Mentone, and how
Work in Mentone centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Mentone
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mentone.
What the weather is like in Mentone, month by month
Mentone sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 51° | 42° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Mentone
The nearest airport, South Bend International, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mentone
Schools across Mentone average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Triton Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Mentone Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tippecanoe Valley Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Triton Jr-sr High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Tippecanoe Valley High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mentone school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mentone 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 Mentone against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mentone
Is Mentone a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mentone ranks 20,203rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, walkability, and biking, and lowest on noise and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mentone expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $146,434. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $74,396 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Mentone safe?
Yes, Mentone is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $199 per resident a year.
Compare Mentone with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mentone. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mentone 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.
Mentone detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mentone: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mentone: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mentone: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mentone: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mentone 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.