Best PlacesStark County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Stark 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.
Stark County ranks 605th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on cheap car insurance and transit. The weaker spots are the weather, property taxes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Stark 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 Stark County
The parts of Stark 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.
Canal Fulton
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
North Canton & Uniontown
Crime runs lower and fewer homes sit empty.
Alliance, Louisville & Hartville
Scores close to North Canton & Uniontown, except that more households have young kids here.
Massillon
Tree cover is thicker.
Navarre
Minerva, Waynesburg & East Canton
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Canton
Fewer residents vote and schools score lower.
Stark County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Stark County's strengths and weaknesses
Stark County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Cheap car insurance is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Transit and good schools follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, property taxes, and noise hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Stark County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of counties
- TransitBetter than 93% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of counties
- BikingBetter than 86% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of counties
Where Stark County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 20% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of counties
- Cheap childcare$959 a month, better than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Stark County
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stark County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,885, 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 Stark County's effective rate of 1.23%, 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 Stark County
Stark County 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 Stark County.
Who works in Stark County, and how
Work in Stark County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Stark County
Stark County has more parkland per resident than 78% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 77% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Stark County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Stark County growing, and who is moving in?
Stark County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Akron, OH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Stark County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Stark County, month by month
Stark County sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Stark County
The nearest airport, Akron-Canton Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cleveland-Hopkins International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stark County
Schools across Stark County average an A−, better than 92% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sauder Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Lake Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Greentown Intermediate SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tuslaw Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- North Canton Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Northwest Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- Lake Middle / High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Hoover High SchoolA · 78% proficient
- Jackson High SchoolA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stark County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stark 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 Stark County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Stark County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of counties and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Stark County
Is Stark County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stark County ranks 605th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, transit, and good schools, and lowest on the weather and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stark County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,807. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $73,885 median income, cost of living beats 74% of counties.
Is Stark County safe?
Stark County is safer than 36% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $361 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Stark County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 21. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 10% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Stark County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Canal Fulton, North Canton & Uniontown, and Alliance, Louisville & Hartville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Stark County good for families?
Schools beat 92% of counties, crime safety beats 36%, and childcare runs $959 a month.
Is Stark County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 59% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Stark County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stark County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stark 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.
Stark County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stark County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stark County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stark County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stark County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stark 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.