Best PlacesRural, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rural, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rural ranks 29,983rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rural
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.
Rural's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rural ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of towns
- Short commute21.9 minutes each way, better than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 80% of towns
Where Rural ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rural
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rural home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,557, 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 Rural's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rural
Rural 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 Rural.
Who works in Rural, and how
Work in Rural centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rural
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rural.
What the weather is like in Rural, month by month
Rural sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Rural
The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 75 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rural
Schools across Rural average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Randolph Southern Elementary SchB− · 40% proficient
- Willard Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lee L Driver Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Winchester Community High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Randolph Southern Jr-sr High SchD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rural school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rural 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 Rural against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rural
Is Rural a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rural ranks 29,983rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, cheap car insurance, and short commutes, and lowest on taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rural expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $164,729. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $72,557 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Rural safe?
Rural is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $492 per resident a year.
Compare Rural with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rural. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rural 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.
Rural detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rural: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rural: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rural: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rural: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rural 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.