Best PlacesValparaiso, NE 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 11,396th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and property taxes are 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
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 82% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 79% of towns
Where Valparaiso ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Valparaiso
A household needs to earn about $74,000 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 $89,968, 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 1.28%, 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 Valparaiso
Valparaiso runs older 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 Valparaiso.
Who works in Valparaiso, and how
Work in Valparaiso centers on transportation & warehousing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Valparaiso
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Valparaiso.
What the weather is like in Valparaiso, month by month
Valparaiso sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Valparaiso
The nearest airport, Lincoln, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 51 miles away.
The best schools in and around Valparaiso
Schools across Valparaiso average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Seward Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Elementary School At DwightB · 50% proficient
- Elementary Sch At ValparaisoB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seward Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Wahoo Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Intermediate School At Jr/sr High SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Seward High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Mead High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Wahoo High SchoolB+ · 58% 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 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Valparaiso
Is Valparaiso a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valparaiso ranks 11,396th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low crime, and state infrastructure, and lowest on property taxes and internet speeds. 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 $265,444. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $89,968 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Valparaiso safe?
Yes, Valparaiso is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $156 per resident a year.
Compare Valparaiso with other towns
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.