Best PlacesSidney, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sidney, 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.
Sidney ranks 1,286th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sidney
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.
Sidney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sidney ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of cities
- Short commute18.1 minutes each way, better than 93% of cities
- Cheap childcare$764 a month, better than 84% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 77% of cities
Where Sidney ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 12% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Sidney
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sidney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,616, 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 Sidney's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Sidney
Sidney 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 Sidney.
Who works in Sidney, and how
Work in Sidney 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 3%
Life in Sidney
Sidney has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sidney and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sidney, month by month
Sidney sees roughly 84 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 Sidney
The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sidney
Schools across Sidney average a B+, better than 70% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Fort Loramie Elementary SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Fairlawn Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Anna Elementary SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Top middle schools
- Anna Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Graham Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Sidney Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Loramie Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Anna High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Jackson Center High SchoolA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sidney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sidney 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 Sidney against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Sidney suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Sidney
Is Sidney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sidney ranks 1,286th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, short commutes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on internet speeds and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sidney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $187,455. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $73,616 median income, cost of living beats 45% of cities.
Is Sidney safe?
Sidney is safer than 32% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $332 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sidney?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 23. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of cities.
Is Sidney good for families?
Schools beat 70% of cities, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $764 a month.
Compare Sidney with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sidney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sidney 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.
Sidney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sidney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sidney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sidney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sidney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sidney 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.