Best PlacesMuncie, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Muncie metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Momoneymoproblemz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Muncie ranks 342nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and crime. It does better on cheap car insurance, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Muncie metro
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 Muncie
The towns and districts of the Muncie metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Yorktown
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Gaston
Crime runs lower and fewer homes sit empty.
Daleville
More households have young kids, though biking is worse.
Albany & Eaton
Streets are more car-dependent and prices have run up more.
Downtown Muncie
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Muncie shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Muncie's strengths and weaknesses
Muncie ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Cheap car insurance, cell coverage, and state infrastructure carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: noise, crime, and the weather all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Muncie ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 79% of metro areas
- Short commute21.2 minutes each way, better than 74% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$747 a month, better than 70% of metro areas
Where Muncie ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of metro areas
- Household income$64,843 median, better than only 10% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Muncie
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Muncie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,843, 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 Muncie's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Muncie
Muncie's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Muncie.
Who works in Muncie, and how
Work in Muncie centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Muncie
Muncie has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Muncie and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Muncie growing, and who is moving in?
Muncie has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Indianapolis, IN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Muncie go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Muncie, month by month
Muncie sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 30° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Muncie
The nearest airport, Fort Wayne International, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Muncie
Schools across Muncie average a C, better than 23% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Royerton Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Selma Elementary SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Yorktown Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Selma Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Delta Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Yorktown Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Indiana Academy For Sci Math HmnA+ · 93% proficient
- Delta High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Eastbrook High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Muncie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Muncie 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 Muncie against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Muncie suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Muncie
Is Muncie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Muncie ranks 342nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, cell coverage, and state infrastructure, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Muncie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $142,036. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $64,843 median income, cost of living beats 14% of metro areas.
Is Muncie safe?
Muncie is safer than 6% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $467 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Muncie?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 22. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Muncie?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Yorktown, Gaston, and Daleville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Muncie good for families?
Schools beat 23% of metro areas, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $747 a month.
Is Muncie good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 14% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 27% of metro areas. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Muncie with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Muncie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Muncie 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.
Muncie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Muncie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Muncie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Muncie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Muncie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Muncie 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.