Best PlacesNorwalk, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Norwalk, 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.
Norwalk ranks 7,649th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Norwalk
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.
Norwalk's strengths and weaknesses
Where Norwalk ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
Where Norwalk ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
- Cheap childcare$960 a month, better than only 28% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 73 pleasant days a year, better than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Norwalk
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Norwalk home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,571, 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 Norwalk's effective rate of 1.06%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Norwalk
Norwalk'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 Norwalk.
Who works in Norwalk, and how
Work in Norwalk 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 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Norwalk
Norwalk has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of towns and more parkland per resident than 82% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Norwalk and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Norwalk, month by month
Norwalk sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 59° | 49° | 42° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 68° |
| October | 65° | 56° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Norwalk
Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 41 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.9 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Norwalk
Schools across Norwalk average an A−, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pleasant Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Edison Elementary School (formerly Milan Elem)A · 65% proficient
- South Central Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- League Elementary SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Firelands Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Main Street SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- South Central High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Edison High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Western Reserve High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Norwalk school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Norwalk 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 Norwalk against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Norwalk suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Norwalk
Is Norwalk a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Norwalk ranks 7,649th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, cheap car insurance, and good schools, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Norwalk expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $183,876. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $67,571 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Norwalk safe?
Yes, Norwalk is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $188 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Norwalk?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 23. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of towns.
Is Norwalk good for families?
Schools beat 90% of towns, crime safety beats 84%, and childcare runs $960 a month.
Compare Norwalk with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Norwalk. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Norwalk 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.
Norwalk detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Norwalk: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Norwalk: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Norwalk: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Norwalk: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Norwalk 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.