Best PlacesUnion County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Union County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Union County ranks 21st of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Union 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 Union County
The parts of Union 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.
Plain City & Dublin
More adults hold degrees, more households have young kids, and incomes run higher.
Marysville
It is noisier.
Richwood
Homes cost less, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Union County run from about the 42nd to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Union County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Union County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of counties
- School gradeA, better than 98% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of counties
- Household income$122,824 median, better than 97% of counties
Where Union County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Union County
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Union County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $122,824, 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 Union County's effective rate of 1.27%, 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 Union County
Union County'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 Union County.
Who works in Union County, and how
Work in Union County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Union County
Union County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 84% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Union County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Union County growing, and who is moving in?
Union County has grown about 33% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Columbus, OH metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Union County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Union County, month by month
Union County sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 62° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Union County
John Glenn Columbus International sits about 29 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 Union County
Schools across Union County average an A, better than 98% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Deer Run Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Glacier Ridge ElementaryA+ · 84% proficient
- Scottish Corners Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- Willard Grizzell Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Henry Karrer Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Creekview Intermediate Elementary SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- Dublin Jerome High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Marysville Stem Early College High SchoolA · 78% proficient
- Jonathan Alder High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Union County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Union 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 Union County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Union County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of counties and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Union County
Is Union County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Union County ranks 21st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, few empty homes, and good schools, 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 Union County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $380,178. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $122,824 median income, cost of living beats 99% of counties.
Is Union County safe?
Yes, Union County is safer than 80% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Union County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 22. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Union County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Plain City & Dublin, Marysville, and Richwood. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Union County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Union County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Union 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.
Union County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Union County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Union County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Union County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Union County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Union 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.