Best PlacesParke County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Parke 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.
Parke County ranks 2,374th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Parke 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.
Parke County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Parke County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 83% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 75% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 74% of counties
Where Parke County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 13% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 13% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Parke County
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Parke County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,432, 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 Parke County's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Parke County
Parke County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Parke County.
Who works in Parke County, and how
Work in Parke County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Parke County
Parke County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Parke County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Parke County growing, and who is moving in?
Parke County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Indianapolis, IN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Parke County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Parke County, month by month
Parke County sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 21° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 41° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Parke County
Indianapolis International sits about 50 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 Parke County
Schools across Parke County average a C, better than 31% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Turkey Run Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Rockville Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Montezuma Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Clay Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- North Putnam Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Southmont Jr High SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Northview High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- North Putnam Sr High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Greencastle High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Parke County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Parke 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 Parke County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Parke County
Is Parke County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Parke County ranks 2,374th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Parke County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $165,553. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $71,432 median income, cost of living beats 55% of counties.
Is Parke County safe?
Parke County is safer than 39% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $324 per resident a year.
Compare Parke County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Parke County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Parke 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.
Parke County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Parke County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Parke County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Parke County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Parke County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Parke 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.