Best PlacesVan Buren, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Van Buren, 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.
Van Buren ranks 4,781st of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Van Buren
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.
Van Buren's strengths and weaknesses
Where Van Buren ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 85% of towns
Where Van Buren ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,271 a month, better than only 12% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 32% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Van Buren
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Van Buren home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,676, 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 Van Buren's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 Van Buren
Van Buren runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Van Buren.
Who works in Van Buren, and how
Work in Van Buren centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Van Buren
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Van Buren.
What the weather is like in Van Buren, month by month
Van Buren sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 57° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Van Buren
The nearest airport, Eugene F Kranz Toledo Express, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Van Buren
Schools across Van Buren average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Van Buren Elementary SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Elmwood Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- E A Powell Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elmwood Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Van Buren Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- North Baltimore Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Van Buren High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- North Baltimore High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Elmwood High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Van Buren school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Van Buren 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 Van Buren against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Van Buren
Is Van Buren a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Van Buren ranks 4,781st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, short commutes, and good schools, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Van Buren expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $264,758. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $92,676 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Van Buren safe?
Yes, Van Buren is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
Compare Van Buren with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Van Buren. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Van Buren 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.
Van Buren detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Van Buren: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Van Buren: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Van Buren: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Van Buren: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Van Buren 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.