Best PlacesRipley County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ripley 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.
Ripley County ranks 1,295th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Ripley 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 Ripley County
The parts of Ripley 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.
Sunman
Milan
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Versailles
Tree cover is thicker, though prices have run up more.
Batesville
Fewer homes sit empty and schools score higher.
Osgood
Crime runs higher and incomes run lower.
Scores across Ripley County run from about the 21st to the 66th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Ripley County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ripley County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 82% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 77% of counties
Where Ripley County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 24% of counties
- Cheap childcare$910 a month, better than only 27% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 30% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ripley County
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ripley County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,564, 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 Ripley County's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ripley County
Ripley County'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 Ripley County.
Who works in Ripley County, and how
Work in Ripley County 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 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ripley County
Ripley County has more parkland per resident than 85% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Ripley County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ripley County growing, and who is moving in?
Ripley County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Cincinnati, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ripley County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ripley County, month by month
Ripley County sees roughly 57 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 Ripley County
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 31 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 Ripley County
Schools across Ripley County average a B−, better than 63% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Batesville Intermediate SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- South Ripley Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Sunman Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Batesville Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- South Ripley Junior High SchoolB · 45% proficient
- East Central Middle SchoolB · 44% 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 Ripley County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ripley 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 Ripley County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Ripley County suits
Common questions about living in Ripley County
Is Ripley County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ripley County ranks 1,295th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low crime, and health care access, and lowest on the weather and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ripley County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,040. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $71,564 median income, cost of living beats 59% of counties.
Is Ripley County safe?
Yes, Ripley County is safer than 89% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $212 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ripley County?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 23. That works out to about 57 pleasant days a year, more than 3% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Ripley County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sunman, Milan, and Versailles. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Ripley County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ripley County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ripley 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.
Ripley County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ripley County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ripley County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ripley County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ripley County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ripley 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.