Best PlacesProspect, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prospect, 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.
Prospect ranks 13,627th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Prospect
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.
Prospect's strengths and weaknesses
Where Prospect ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 86% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
Where Prospect ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 11% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 23% of towns
- Short commute32.3 minutes each way, better than only 23% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prospect
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prospect home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,177, 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 Prospect's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Prospect
Prospect's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Prospect.
Who works in Prospect, and how
Work in Prospect 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 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Prospect
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Prospect.
What the weather is like in Prospect, month by month
Prospect sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Prospect
John Glenn Columbus International sits about 36 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 94 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Prospect
Schools across Prospect average an A−, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Buckeye Valley West Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- North Union Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Heritage Elementary SchoolA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Union Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Buckeye Valley Local Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- River Valley Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Buckeye Valley Local High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- River Valley High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- North Union High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prospect school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prospect 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 Prospect against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prospect
Is Prospect a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prospect ranks 13,627th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, fast internet, and few empty homes, and lowest on childcare costs and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Prospect expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,755. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $83,177 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Prospect safe?
Prospect is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $313 per resident a year.
Compare Prospect with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prospect. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prospect 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.
Prospect detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prospect: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prospect: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prospect: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prospect: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prospect 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.