Best PlacesMunster, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Munster, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Munster ranks 2,202nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Munster
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.
Munster's strengths and weaknesses
Where Munster ranks high
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
Where Munster ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Munster
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Munster home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $114,749, 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 Munster's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Munster
Munster runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Munster.
Who works in Munster, and how
Work in Munster centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Munster
Munster has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Munster and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Munster, month by month
Munster sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Munster
Chicago Midway International sits about 21 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 Munster
Schools across Munster average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Frank H Hammond Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Ernest R Elliott Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- James B Eads Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wilbur Wright Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Henry W Eggers Middle SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Munster High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- Hammond Central High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Munster school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Munster 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 Munster against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Munster suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Munster
Is Munster a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Munster ranks 2,202nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, big-city access, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Munster expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $353,209. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $114,749 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Munster safe?
Munster is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Munster?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 20. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 35% of towns.
Is Munster good for families?
Schools beat 91% of towns, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $873 a month.
Compare Munster with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Munster. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Munster 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.
Munster detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Munster: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Munster: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Munster: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Munster: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Munster 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.