Best PlacesMorrow County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Morrow 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.
Morrow County ranks 791st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Morrow 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 Morrow County
The parts of Morrow 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.
Marengo
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and fewer homes sit empty.
Mount Gilead
Cardington
Homes cost less, though fewer households have young kids.
Scores across Morrow County run from about the 24th to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Morrow County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Morrow County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 93% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 87% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of counties
Where Morrow County ranks low
- Short commute32.8 minutes each way, better than only 8% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 16% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 20% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Morrow County
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morrow County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,743, 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 Morrow County's effective rate of 1.09%, 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.
Who lives in Morrow County
Morrow County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Morrow County.
Who works in Morrow County, and how
Work in Morrow County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Morrow County
Morrow County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Morrow County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Morrow County growing, and who is moving in?
Morrow County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Columbus, OH metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Morrow County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Morrow County, month by month
Morrow County sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Morrow County
John Glenn Columbus International sits about 36 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 94 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Morrow County
Schools across Morrow County average a B+, better than 87% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Fredericktown Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Western Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Liberty Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lexington Junior High SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Fredericktown Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Buckeye Valley Local Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Buckeye Valley Local High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Lexington High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Fredericktown High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Morrow County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morrow 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 Morrow County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Morrow County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 79% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Morrow County
Is Morrow County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morrow County ranks 791st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, a strong job market, and good schools, and lowest on long commutes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Morrow County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $231,020. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $80,743 median income, cost of living beats 79% of counties.
Is Morrow County safe?
Yes, Morrow County is safer than 67% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Morrow County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 20. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Morrow County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Marengo, Mount Gilead, and Cardington. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Morrow County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morrow County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morrow 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.
Morrow County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morrow County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morrow County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morrow County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morrow County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morrow 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.