Best PlacesPortland Mills, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Portland Mills, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Portland Mills ranks 39,808th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Portland Mills
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.
Portland Mills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Portland Mills ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 68% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 66% of towns
Where Portland Mills ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Portland Mills
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Portland Mills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,048, 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 Portland Mills' effective rate of 0.36%, 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 Portland Mills
Portland Mills runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Portland Mills.
Who works in Portland Mills, and how
Work in Portland Mills centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Portland Mills
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Portland Mills.
What the weather is like in Portland Mills, month by month
Portland Mills sees roughly 59 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 Portland Mills
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 Portland Mills
Schools across Portland Mills average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Turkey Run Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Bainbridge Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Roachdale Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Putnam Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Parke Heritage Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- North Putnam Sr High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Southmont Sr High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Parke Heritage High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Portland Mills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Portland Mills 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 Portland Mills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Portland Mills
Is Portland Mills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Portland Mills ranks 39,808th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, cheap car insurance, and state infrastructure, and lowest on taxes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Portland Mills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,824. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $69,048 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Portland Mills safe?
Portland Mills is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $366 per resident a year.
Compare Portland Mills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Portland Mills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Portland Mills 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.
Portland Mills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Portland Mills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Portland Mills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Portland Mills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Portland Mills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Portland Mills 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.