Best PlacesMercer County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Mercer County, 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.
Mercer County ranks 250th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mercer County
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 Mercer County
The parts of Mercer 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.
St. Henry
More households have young kids, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Fort Recovery
Fewer homes sit empty, though homes cost more.
Celina & Coldwater
Commutes are shorter and streets are more walkable.
Rockford
Scores across Mercer County run from about the 28th to the 98th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Mercer County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mercer County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeA, better than 98% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 89% of counties
- Short commute18.5 minutes each way, better than 86% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of counties
Where Mercer County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 31% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 78 pleasant days a year, better than only 36% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Mercer County
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mercer County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,016, 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 Mercer County's effective rate of 1.00%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mercer County
Mercer County'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 Mercer County.
Who works in Mercer County, and how
Work in Mercer County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mercer County
Mercer County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 90% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mercer County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Mercer County growing, and who is moving in?
Mercer County has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Auglaize County, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Mercer County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Mercer County, month by month
Mercer County sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 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° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Mercer County
The nearest airport, Fort Wayne International, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mercer County
Schools across Mercer County average an A, better than 98% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- New Bremen Elementary SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Minster Elementary SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Marion Local Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- St Henry Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Fort Recovery Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Coldwater Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top high schools
- St Henry High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Minster Jr/sr High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Marion Local High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mercer County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mercer 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 Mercer County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Mercer County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 71% of counties and 5% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Mercer County
Is Mercer County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mercer County ranks 250th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and heat safety, and lowest on tree cover and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mercer County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,675. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $82,016 median income, cost of living beats 71% of counties.
Is Mercer County safe?
Yes, Mercer County is safer than 63% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $274 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mercer County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 23. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Mercer County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are St. Henry, Fort Recovery, and Celina & Coldwater. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Mercer County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mercer County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mercer 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.
Mercer County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mercer County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mercer County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mercer County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mercer County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mercer County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.