Best PlacesValparaiso, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valparaiso, 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.
Valparaiso ranks 571st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Valparaiso
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.
Valparaiso's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valparaiso ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 81% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 78% of cities
Where Valparaiso ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 22% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 28% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 32% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 38% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 40% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Valparaiso
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valparaiso home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,311, 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 Valparaiso's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Valparaiso
Valparaiso'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 Valparaiso.
Who works in Valparaiso, and how
Work in Valparaiso 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 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Valparaiso
Valparaiso has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Valparaiso and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Valparaiso, month by month
Valparaiso sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 39° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Valparaiso
Chicago Midway International sits about 41 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 9.4 million passengers in 2025, with 113 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Valparaiso
Schools across Valparaiso average a B+, better than 78% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Memorial Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Heavilin Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Morgan Township Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Benjamin Franklin Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Thomas Jefferson Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Chesterton Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Valparaiso High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Morgan Township Middle/high SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Washington Twp Middle/high SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valparaiso school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valparaiso 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 Valparaiso against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Valparaiso suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 57% of cities and health care access beats 73%.
Common questions about living in Valparaiso
Is Valparaiso a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valparaiso ranks 571st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low crime, and a stable housing market, and lowest on noise and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valparaiso expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $301,010. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $94,311 median income, cost of living beats 57% of cities.
Is Valparaiso safe?
Yes, Valparaiso is safer than 87% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $196 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Valparaiso?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 21. That works out to about 95 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of cities.
Is Valparaiso good for families?
Schools beat 78% of cities, crime safety beats 87%, and childcare runs $1,024 a month.
Compare Valparaiso with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valparaiso. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valparaiso 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.
Valparaiso detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valparaiso: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valparaiso: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valparaiso: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valparaiso: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valparaiso 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.