Best PlacesSt. John, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. John, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
St. John ranks 1,918th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in St. John
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.
St. John's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. John ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$131,492 median, better than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
Where St. John ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Short commute31.9 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. John
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. John home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $131,492, 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 St. John's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 St. John
St. John runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. John.
Who works in St. John, and how
Work in St. John centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in St. John
St. John has more parkland per resident than 80% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of St. John and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. John, month by month
St. John sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of St. John
Chicago Midway International sits about 28 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around St. John
Schools across St. John average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- George Bibich Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- James H Watson Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Timothy Ball Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hal E Clark Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
- Hanover Central Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Colonel John Wheeler Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Crown Point High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Lake Central High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Hanover Central High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. John school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. John 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 St. John against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. John
Is St. John a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. John ranks 1,918th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, high incomes, and cell coverage, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. John expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $406,052. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $131,492 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is St. John safe?
Yes, St. John is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $176 per resident a year.
Compare St. John with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. John. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. John 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.
St. John detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. John: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. John: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. John: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. John: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. John 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.