Best PlacesPenntown, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Penntown, 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.
Penntown ranks 22,189th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Penntown
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.
Penntown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Penntown ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 85% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
Where Penntown ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 54 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Short commute36.7 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Penntown
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Penntown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $79,107; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Penntown's effective rate of 0.77%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Penntown
Penntown runs older than the country, 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 Penntown.
Who works in Penntown, and how
Work in Penntown centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Penntown
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Penntown.
What the weather is like in Penntown, month by month
Penntown sees roughly 54 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, 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 | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Penntown
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 28 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Penntown
Schools across Penntown average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sunman Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Milan Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Batesville Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- East Central Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Milan Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- East Central High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Batesville High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Milan High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Penntown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Penntown 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 Penntown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Penntown
Is Penntown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Penntown ranks 22,189th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, an educated workforce, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Penntown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $334,300. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $79,107 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Penntown safe?
Yes, Penntown is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $232 per resident a year.
Compare Penntown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Penntown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Penntown 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.
Penntown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Penntown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Penntown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Penntown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Penntown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Penntown 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.