Best PlacesShaker Heights, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shaker Heights, 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.
Shaker Heights ranks 254th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shaker Heights
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.
Shaker Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Shaker Heights ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 95% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of cities
Where Shaker Heights ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 27% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 27% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 34% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Shaker Heights
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shaker Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $123,408, 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 Shaker Heights' effective rate of 2.88%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shaker Heights
Shaker Heights 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 Shaker Heights.
Who works in Shaker Heights, and how
Work in Shaker Heights centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Shaker Heights
Shaker Heights has more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Shaker Heights and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Shaker Heights, month by month
Shaker Heights sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 60° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 76° | 69° |
| October | 68° | 59° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Shaker Heights
Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 16 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.9 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Shaker Heights
Schools across Shaker Heights average an A−, better than 82% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Hilltop Elementary SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- Fernway Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Onaway Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Beachwood Middle SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- Woodbury Elementary SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Shaker Hts Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Beachwood High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Shaker Hts High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Cleveland School Of The Arts High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shaker Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shaker Heights 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 Shaker Heights against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Shaker Heights suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Shaker Heights
Is Shaker Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shaker Heights ranks 254th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, what local pay buys, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shaker Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $312,275. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $123,408 median income, cost of living beats 96% of cities.
Is Shaker Heights safe?
Shaker Heights is safer than 4% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $520 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Shaker Heights?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 25. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of cities.
Is Shaker Heights good for families?
Schools beat 82% of cities, crime safety beats 4%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Shaker Heights with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shaker Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shaker Heights 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.
Shaker Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shaker Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shaker Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shaker Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shaker Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shaker Heights 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.