Best PlacesRush County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Rush 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.
Rush County ranks 1,830th 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 Rush 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.
Rush County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rush County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 85% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 78% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 75% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 74% of counties
Where Rush County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 25% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Rush County
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rush County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,219, 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 Rush County's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Rush County
Rush County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rush County.
Who works in Rush County, and how
Work in Rush 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 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rush County
Rush County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 76% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rush County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Rush County growing, and who is moving in?
Rush County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Indianapolis, IN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Rush County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Rush County, month by month
Rush County sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, 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 | 41° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Rush County
Indianapolis International sits about 44 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.2 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Rush County
Schools across Rush County average a C+, better than 48% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Knightstown Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Rushville Elementary School EastB− · 40% proficient
- Arlington Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Benjamin Rush Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Knightstown Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Rushville Consolidated High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Knightstown High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rush County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rush 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 Rush County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Rush County
Is Rush County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rush County ranks 1,830th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, fast internet, and big-city 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 Rush County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,738. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $66,219 median income, cost of living beats 48% of counties.
Is Rush County safe?
Rush County is safer than 46% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $303 per resident a year.
Compare Rush County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rush County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rush 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.
Rush County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rush County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rush County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rush County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rush County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rush 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.