Best PlacesShadeland, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shadeland, 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.
Shadeland ranks 10,970th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shadeland
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.
Shadeland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shadeland ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute19.2 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Shadeland ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 28% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shadeland
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shadeland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,245, 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 Shadeland's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Shadeland
Shadeland'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 Shadeland.
Who works in Shadeland, and how
Work in Shadeland centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Shadeland
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shadeland.
What the weather is like in Shadeland, month by month
Shadeland sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 19° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Shadeland
Indianapolis International sits about 56 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 Shadeland
Schools across Shadeland average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Klondike Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Mintonye Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Klondike Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Southwestern Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- William Henry Harrison High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Mccutcheon High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shadeland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shadeland 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 Shadeland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shadeland
Is Shadeland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shadeland ranks 10,970th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, cheap car insurance, and few empty homes, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shadeland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,565. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $91,245 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Shadeland safe?
Yes, Shadeland is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $199 per resident a year.
Compare Shadeland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shadeland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shadeland 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.
Shadeland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shadeland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shadeland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shadeland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shadeland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shadeland 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.