Best PlacesShady Hills, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shady Hills, 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.
Shady Hills ranks 15,375th 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 Shady Hills
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.
Shady Hills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Shady Hills ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 85% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of towns
Where Shady Hills ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 71 pleasant days a year, better than only 28% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shady Hills
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shady Hills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,801, 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 Shady Hills' effective rate of 0.77%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shady Hills
Shady Hills 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 Shady Hills.
Who works in Shady Hills, and how
Work in Shady Hills centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Shady Hills
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shady Hills.
What the weather is like in Shady Hills, month by month
Shady Hills sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Shady Hills
The nearest airport, Fort Wayne International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 69 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shady Hills
Schools across Shady Hills average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sweetser Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Eastbrook North ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- John W Kendall Elem SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Swayzee Elementary SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Eastbrook Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Justice Thurgood Marshall IntrmdD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Eastbrook High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Oak Hill High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Marion High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shady Hills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shady Hills 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 Shady Hills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shady Hills
Is Shady Hills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shady Hills ranks 15,375th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, cheap car insurance, and health care access, and lowest on taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shady Hills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $165,911. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $82,801 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Shady Hills safe?
Yes, Shady Hills is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
Compare Shady Hills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shady Hills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shady Hills 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.
Shady Hills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shady Hills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shady Hills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shady Hills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shady Hills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shady Hills 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.