Best PlacesSunbury, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sunbury, 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.
Sunbury ranks 682nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sunbury
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.
Sunbury's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sunbury ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
Where Sunbury ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,272 a month, better than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 30% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 32% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sunbury
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sunbury home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $121,720, 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 Sunbury's effective rate of 1.13%, 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 Sunbury
Sunbury'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 Sunbury.
Who works in Sunbury, and how
Work in Sunbury centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Sunbury
Sunbury has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sunbury and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sunbury, month by month
Sunbury sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 62° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Sunbury
John Glenn Columbus International sits about 18 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 94 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Sunbury
Schools across Sunbury average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Centerburg Elementary SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Johnnycake Corners Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Big Walnut Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Berkshire Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Big Walnut Intermediate SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Big Walnut Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- Olentangy High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Big Walnut High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Buckeye Valley Local High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sunbury school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sunbury 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 Sunbury against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sunbury
Is Sunbury a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sunbury ranks 682nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sunbury expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $429,331. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $121,720 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Sunbury safe?
Yes, Sunbury is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $154 per resident a year.
Compare Sunbury with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sunbury. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sunbury 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.
Sunbury detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sunbury: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sunbury: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sunbury: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sunbury: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sunbury 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.