Best PlacesMerrillville, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Merrillville, 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.
Merrillville ranks 1,911th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Merrillville
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.
Merrillville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Merrillville ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 81% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 72% of cities
Where Merrillville ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 10% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of cities
- School gradeC−, better than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Merrillville
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Merrillville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,374, 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 Merrillville's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Merrillville
Merrillville runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Merrillville.
Who works in Merrillville, and how
Work in Merrillville centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Merrillville
Merrillville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Merrillville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Merrillville, month by month
Merrillville sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 60° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 83° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Merrillville
Chicago Midway International sits about 29 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Merrillville
Schools across Merrillville average a C−, better than 13% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Jonas E Salk Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- John Wood Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Homer Iddings Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Merrillville Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Pierce Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Lake Ridge New Tech Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Merrillville High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Calumet New Tech High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Merrillville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Merrillville 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 Merrillville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Merrillville suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Merrillville
Is Merrillville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Merrillville ranks 1,911th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, low disaster risk, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on crime and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Merrillville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $206,231. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $69,374 median income, cost of living beats 20% of cities.
Is Merrillville safe?
Merrillville is safer than 2% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $595 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Merrillville?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 22. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of cities.
Is Merrillville good for families?
Schools beat 13% of cities, crime safety beats 2%, and childcare runs $873 a month.
Compare Merrillville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Merrillville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Merrillville 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.
Merrillville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Merrillville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Merrillville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Merrillville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Merrillville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Merrillville 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.