Best PlacesTippecanoe County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Tippecanoe 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.
Tippecanoe County ranks 567th 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 biking and transit. The weaker spots are noise, the weather, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Tippecanoe 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 Tippecanoe County
The parts of Tippecanoe 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.
Battle Ground
Local pay stretches further, more residents vote, and incomes run higher.
West Lafayette
More adults hold degrees, though fewer households have young kids.
Lafayette
Prices have run up less, though schools score lower.
Tippecanoe County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 15% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Tippecanoe County's strengths and weaknesses
Tippecanoe County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Biking is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Transit and an educated workforce follow.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. The weather and civic engagement also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Tippecanoe County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of counties
- TransitBetter than 94% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of counties
Where Tippecanoe County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Tippecanoe County
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tippecanoe County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,261, 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 Tippecanoe County's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tippecanoe County
Tippecanoe County runs younger 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 Tippecanoe County.
Who works in Tippecanoe County, and how
Work in Tippecanoe County centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Tippecanoe County
Tippecanoe County has more late-night spots per resident than 87% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Tippecanoe County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Tippecanoe County growing, and who is moving in?
Tippecanoe County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Indianapolis, IN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Tippecanoe County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Tippecanoe County, month by month
Tippecanoe County sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 19° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Tippecanoe County
Indianapolis International sits about 58 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 Tippecanoe County
Schools across Tippecanoe County average a B, better than 76% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- West Lafayette Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Hershey Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Burnett Creek Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Lafayette Intermediate SchoolA · 65% proficient
- East Tipp Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Klondike Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- West Lafayette Jr/sr High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- William Henry Harrison High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Mccutcheon High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tippecanoe County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tippecanoe 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 Tippecanoe County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Tippecanoe County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Tippecanoe County
Is Tippecanoe County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tippecanoe County ranks 567th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, transit, and an educated workforce, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tippecanoe County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,396. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $69,261 median income, cost of living beats 46% of counties.
Is Tippecanoe County safe?
Tippecanoe County is safer than 40% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Tippecanoe County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 19. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 9% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Tippecanoe County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Battle Ground, West Lafayette, and Lafayette. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Tippecanoe County good for families?
Schools beat 76% of counties, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $771 a month.
Is Tippecanoe County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 46% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 93% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Tippecanoe County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tippecanoe County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tippecanoe 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.
Tippecanoe County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tippecanoe County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tippecanoe County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tippecanoe County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tippecanoe County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tippecanoe 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.