Best PlacesRichland County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Richland County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Richland County ranks 1,261st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the weather and property taxes. It does better on cheap car insurance, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Richland 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.
The best areas in Richland County
The parts of Richland County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Lexington
Crime runs lower, fewer homes sit empty, and it is quieter.
Shelby
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Ontario
More residents vote and health care is easier to reach.
Bellville, Lucas & Butler
Prices have run up less, though advertised internet is slower.
Mansfield
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Richland County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Richland County's strengths and weaknesses
Richland County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cheap car insurance, fast internet, and good schools carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, property taxes, and a weak job market hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Richland County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 88% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 78% of counties
Where Richland County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 19% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 20% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 22% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Richland County
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Richland County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,621, 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 Richland County's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 Richland County
Richland County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Richland County.
Who works in Richland County, and how
Work in Richland County 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 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Richland County
Richland County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 83% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Richland County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Richland County growing, and who is moving in?
Richland County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Cleveland, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Richland County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Richland County, month by month
Richland County sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Richland County
John Glenn Columbus International sits about 56 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 Richland County
Schools across Richland County average a B+, better than 88% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Central Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Mansfield Spanish Immersion SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Buckeye Central Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buckeye Central Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Eastern Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Lexington Junior High SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- South Central High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Lexington High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Fredericktown High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Richland County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Richland 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 Richland County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Richland County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Richland County
Is Richland County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Richland County ranks 1,261st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, fast internet, and good schools, and lowest on the weather and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Richland County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,110. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $64,621 median income, cost of living beats 40% of counties.
Is Richland County safe?
Richland County is safer than 48% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $328 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Richland County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 20. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 19% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Richland County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lexington, Shelby, and Ontario. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Richland County good for families?
Schools beat 88% of counties, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $764 a month.
Is Richland County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 40% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 90% of counties. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Richland County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Richland County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Richland 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.
Richland County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Richland County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Richland County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Richland County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Richland County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Richland 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.