Best PlacesNelsonville, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nelsonville, 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.
Nelsonville ranks 45,499th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Nelsonville
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.
Nelsonville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Nelsonville ranks high
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 72% of towns
Where Nelsonville ranks low
- Short commute39.8 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,223 a month, better than only 13% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Nelsonville
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nelsonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,309, 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 Nelsonville's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Nelsonville
Nelsonville runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Nelsonville.
Who works in Nelsonville, and how
Work in Nelsonville centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Nelsonville
Nelsonville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Nelsonville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Nelsonville, month by month
Nelsonville sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 69° | 54° | 40° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 71° | 56° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Nelsonville
The nearest airport, Mid-Ohio Valley Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nelsonville
Schools across Nelsonville average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Union Furnace Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Green Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Alexander Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Athens Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Logan-hocking Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Nelsonville-york Junior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Athens High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Logan High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Nelsonville-york High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nelsonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nelsonville 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 Nelsonville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Nelsonville
Is Nelsonville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nelsonville ranks 45,499th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on long commutes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nelsonville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $133,933. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $54,309 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Nelsonville safe?
Nelsonville is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $610 per resident a year.
Compare Nelsonville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nelsonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nelsonville 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.
Nelsonville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nelsonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nelsonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nelsonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nelsonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nelsonville 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.