Best PlacesNew Castle, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around New Castle, 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.
New Castle ranks 1,830th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in New Castle
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.
New Castle's strengths and weaknesses
Where New Castle ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of cities
- Cheap childcare$789 a month, better than 82% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 81% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 77% of cities
- Short commute22.1 minutes each way, better than 76% of cities
Where New Castle ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of cities
- Household income$58,866 median, better than only 7% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 7% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 11% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in New Castle
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Castle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,866, 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 New Castle's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 New Castle
New Castle's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for New Castle.
Who works in New Castle, and how
Work in New Castle centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in New Castle
New Castle has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of New Castle and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in New Castle, month by month
New Castle sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 29° | 24° |
| April | 62° | 51° | 43° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of New Castle
Indianapolis International sits about 51 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.2 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around New Castle
Schools across New Castle average a C, better than 23% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Shenandoah Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Hagerstown Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Westwood Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shenandoah Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Knightstown Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- New Castle Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Shenandoah High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Hagerstown Jr-sr High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- New Castle High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Castle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Castle 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 New Castle against the other 2,097 cities.
Who New Castle suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in New Castle
Is New Castle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Castle ranks 1,830th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on health outcomes and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is New Castle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $132,366. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $58,866 median income, cost of living beats 20% of cities.
Is New Castle safe?
New Castle is safer than 24% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $366 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in New Castle?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 24. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of cities.
Is New Castle good for families?
Schools beat 23% of cities, crime safety beats 24%, and childcare runs $789 a month.
Compare New Castle with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Castle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Castle 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.
New Castle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Castle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Castle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Castle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Castle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Castle 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.