Best PlacesThorntown, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thorntown, 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.
Thorntown ranks 5,688th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Thorntown
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.
Thorntown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thorntown ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
Where Thorntown ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,195 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Thorntown
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thorntown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,401, 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 Thorntown's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Thorntown
Thorntown runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Thorntown.
Who works in Thorntown, and how
Work in Thorntown centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Thorntown
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Thorntown.
What the weather is like in Thorntown, month by month
Thorntown sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 19° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Thorntown
Indianapolis International sits about 32 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 Thorntown
Schools across Thorntown average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Granville Wells Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Thorntown Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Clinton Prairie Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southmont Jr High SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Lebanon Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Lebanon Senior High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Western Boone Jr-sr High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Southmont Sr High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thorntown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thorntown 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 Thorntown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Thorntown
Is Thorntown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thorntown ranks 5,688th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, walkability, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on air quality and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Thorntown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $251,556. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $102,401 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Thorntown safe?
Yes, Thorntown is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $225 per resident a year.
Compare Thorntown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thorntown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thorntown 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.
Thorntown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thorntown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thorntown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thorntown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thorntown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thorntown 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.