Best PlacesSweetwater Lake, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sweetwater Lake, 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.
Sweetwater Lake ranks 19,806th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sweetwater Lake
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.
Sweetwater Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sweetwater Lake ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
Where Sweetwater Lake ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute39.7 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sweetwater Lake
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sweetwater Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,717, 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 Sweetwater Lake's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 Sweetwater Lake
Sweetwater Lake's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Sweetwater Lake.
Who works in Sweetwater Lake, and how
Work in Sweetwater Lake centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Sweetwater Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sweetwater Lake.
What the weather is like in Sweetwater Lake, month by month
Sweetwater Lake sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 64° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 84° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Sweetwater Lake
Indianapolis International sits about 30 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.2 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Sweetwater Lake
Schools across Sweetwater Lake average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sprunica Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Csa Fodrea CampusC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brown County Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Northside Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Columbus North High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Brown County High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sweetwater Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sweetwater Lake 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 Sweetwater Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sweetwater Lake
Is Sweetwater Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sweetwater Lake ranks 19,806th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, health care access, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sweetwater Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $281,770. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $87,717 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Sweetwater Lake safe?
Yes, Sweetwater Lake is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
Compare Sweetwater Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sweetwater Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sweetwater Lake 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.
Sweetwater Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sweetwater Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sweetwater Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sweetwater Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sweetwater Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sweetwater Lake 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.