Best PlacesOwen County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Owen County, 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.
Owen County ranks 2,382nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Owen County
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.
Owen County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Owen County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 91% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 80% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 75% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 72% of counties
Where Owen County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of counties
- Short commute35.5 minutes each way, better than only 3% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Owen County
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Owen County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,852, 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 Owen County's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Owen County
Owen County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Owen County.
Who works in Owen County, and how
Work in Owen County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, 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 4%
Life in Owen County
Owen County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Owen County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Owen County growing, and who is moving in?
Owen County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Bloomington, IN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Owen County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Owen County, month by month
Owen County sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Owen County
Indianapolis International sits about 39 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 Owen County
Schools across Owen County average a C+, better than 48% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mccormick's Creek Elementary SchB · 47% proficient
- Patricksburg Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Cloverdale Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cloverdale Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Owen Valley Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Owen Valley Community High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Cloverdale High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Owen County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Owen County 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 Owen County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Owen County suits
Families
Schools land around the 48th percentile and crime safety beats 80%.
Common questions about living in Owen County
Is Owen County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Owen County ranks 2,382nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, cheap car insurance, and low crime, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Owen County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $176,244. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $64,852 median income, cost of living beats 28% of counties.
Is Owen County safe?
Yes, Owen County is safer than 80% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Owen County?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 23. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 4% of counties.
Is Owen County good for families?
Schools beat 48% of counties, crime safety beats 80%, and childcare runs $792 a month.
Compare Owen County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Owen County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Owen County 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.
Owen County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Owen County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Owen County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Owen County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Owen County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Owen County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.