Best PlacesSanta Claus, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Claus, 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.
Santa Claus ranks 12,271st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Claus
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.
Santa Claus' strengths and weaknesses
Where Santa Claus ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 87% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of towns
Where Santa Claus ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 48 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 39% of towns
- Cheap childcare$871 a month, better than only 40% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Claus
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Claus home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,403, 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 Santa Claus' effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Santa Claus
Santa Claus runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Santa Claus.
Who works in Santa Claus, and how
Work in Santa Claus centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Santa Claus
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Santa Claus.
What the weather is like in Santa Claus, month by month
Santa Claus sees roughly 48 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Santa Claus
The nearest airport, Owensboro/Daviess County Regional, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Santa Claus
Schools across Santa Claus average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Nancy Hanks Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- David Turnham Education CenterA · 65% proficient
- Lincoln Trail Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Heritage Hills Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Heritage Hills High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Claus school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Claus 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 Santa Claus against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Santa Claus
Is Santa Claus a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Claus ranks 12,271st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, an educated workforce, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on the weather and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Claus expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $257,790. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $93,403 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Santa Claus safe?
Santa Claus is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $606 per resident a year.
Compare Santa Claus with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Claus. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Claus 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.
Santa Claus detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Claus: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Claus: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Claus: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Claus: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Claus 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.