Best PlacesShelby County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Shelby 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.
Shelby County ranks 497th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Shelby 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.
The best areas in Shelby County
The parts of Shelby County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Fort Loramie
It is quieter, schools score higher, and more households have young kids.
Anna
Sidney
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Scores across Shelby County run from about the 22nd to the 93rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Shelby County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shelby County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 94% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of counties
Where Shelby County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 28% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 30% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 34% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Shelby County
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shelby County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,985, 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 Shelby County's effective rate of 0.95%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shelby County
Shelby County'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 Shelby County.
Who works in Shelby County, and how
Work in Shelby County 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 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Shelby County
Shelby County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Shelby County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Shelby County growing, and who is moving in?
Shelby County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dayton, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Shelby County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Shelby County, month by month
Shelby County sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Shelby County
The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shelby County
Schools across Shelby County average an A−, better than 94% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Russia Elementary SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- New Bremen Elementary SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Fort Loramie Elementary SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
Top middle schools
- Versailles Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Anna Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Graham Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Loramie Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Russia High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Minster Jr/sr High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shelby County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shelby 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 Shelby County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Shelby County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of counties and 6% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Shelby County
Is Shelby County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shelby County ranks 497th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and few empty homes, and lowest on internet speeds and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shelby County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,860. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $78,985 median income, cost of living beats 82% of counties.
Is Shelby County safe?
Yes, Shelby County is safer than 60% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $284 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Shelby County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 23. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Shelby County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Fort Loramie, Anna, and Sidney. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Shelby County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shelby County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shelby 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.
Shelby County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shelby County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shelby County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shelby County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shelby County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shelby 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.