Best PlacesRocky River, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rocky River, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rocky River ranks 798th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rocky River
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.
Rocky River's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rocky River ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
Where Rocky River ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rocky River
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rocky River home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $109,033, 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 Rocky River's effective rate of 1.82%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rocky River
Rocky River 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 Rocky River.
Who works in Rocky River, and how
Work in Rocky River centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Rocky River
Rocky River has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 88% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rocky River and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rocky River, month by month
Rocky River sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 23° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Rocky River
Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 4 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.9 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Rocky River
Schools across Rocky River average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kensington Intermediate Elementary SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rocky River Middle SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Top high schools
- Rocky River High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rocky River school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rocky River 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 Rocky River against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Rocky River suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Rocky River
Is Rocky River a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rocky River ranks 798th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, transit, and biking, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rocky River expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $353,853. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $109,033 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Rocky River safe?
Rocky River is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $332 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rocky River?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 23. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of towns.
Is Rocky River good for families?
Schools beat 100% of towns, crime safety beats 33%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Rocky River with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rocky River. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rocky River 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.
Rocky River detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rocky River: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rocky River: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rocky River: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rocky River: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rocky River 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.