Best PlacesRoss County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ross 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.
Ross County ranks 1,310th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ross 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 Ross County
The parts of Ross 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.
Kingston
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and schools score higher.
Frankfort
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Hopetown
Chillicothe
More adults hold degrees, though it is noisier.
Bainbridge
Prices have run up less, though streets are more car-dependent.
Scores across Ross County run from about the 6th to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Ross County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ross County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 83% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 80% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 76% of counties
Where Ross County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 28% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 28% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ross County
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ross County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,442, 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 Ross County's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 Ross County
Ross 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 Ross County.
Who works in Ross County, and how
Work in Ross County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ross County
Ross County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Ross County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ross County growing, and who is moving in?
Ross County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Columbus, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ross County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ross County, month by month
Ross County sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 24° |
| April | 64° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Ross County
The nearest airport, Rickenbacker International, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ross County
Schools across Ross County average a B+, better than 80% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Zane Trace Elementary SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Miami Trace Elementary SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Greenfield Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Miami Trace Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Salt Creek Intermediate SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Southeastern Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Miami Trace High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Logan Elm High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Unioto High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ross County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ross 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 Ross County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Ross County suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Ross County
Is Ross County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ross County ranks 1,310th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low disaster risk, and few empty homes, and lowest on internet speeds and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ross County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,159. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $64,442 median income, cost of living beats 36% of counties.
Is Ross County safe?
Yes, Ross County is safer than 74% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $264 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ross County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 24. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Ross County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Kingston, Frankfort, and Hopetown. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Ross County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ross County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ross 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.
Ross County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ross County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ross County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ross County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ross County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ross 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.