Best PlacesOtterbein, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Otterbein, 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.
Otterbein ranks 15,138th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Otterbein
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.
Otterbein's strengths and weaknesses
Where Otterbein ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 81% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 77% of towns
Where Otterbein ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Otterbein
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Otterbein home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,283, 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 Otterbein's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Otterbein
Otterbein runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Otterbein.
Who works in Otterbein, and how
Work in Otterbein centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Otterbein
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Otterbein.
What the weather is like in Otterbein, month by month
Otterbein sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 19° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Otterbein
Indianapolis International sits about 68 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 Otterbein
Schools across Otterbein average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine Village Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Prairie Crossing Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Otterbein Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Klondike Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Southwestern Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Tri-county Jr/sr High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Benton Central Jr-sr High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Attica High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Otterbein school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Otterbein 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 Otterbein against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Otterbein
Is Otterbein a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Otterbein ranks 15,138th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, biking, and big-city access, and lowest on the weather and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Otterbein expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $230,720. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $81,283 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Otterbein safe?
Yes, Otterbein is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $201 per resident a year.
Compare Otterbein with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Otterbein. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Otterbein 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.
Otterbein detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Otterbein: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Otterbein: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Otterbein: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Otterbein: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Otterbein 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.