Best PlacesSouth Bend, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Bend, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
South Bend ranks 29,732nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in South Bend
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.
South Bend's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Bend ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
Where South Bend ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in South Bend
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Bend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $63,170, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 South Bend's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 South Bend
South Bend 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 South Bend.
Who works in South Bend, and how
Work in South Bend centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in South Bend
The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across South Bend, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in South Bend, month by month
South Bend sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 43° | 38° |
| April | 58° | 49° | 41° |
| July | 70° | 61° | 54° |
| October | 62° | 53° | 45° |
Flying in and out of South Bend
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 89 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
South Bend 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 South Bend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in South Bend
Is South Bend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Bend ranks 29,732nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and clean air, and lowest on disaster risk and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is South Bend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $282,851. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $63,170 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is South Bend safe?
South Bend is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $527 per resident a year.
Compare South Bend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Bend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Bend 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.
South Bend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Bend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Bend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Bend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Bend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Bend 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.