Best PlacesVandalia, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vandalia, 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.
Vandalia ranks 30,217th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Vandalia
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.
Vandalia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Vandalia ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 72% of towns
Where Vandalia ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- Short commute38.4 minutes each way, better than only 7% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 15% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Vandalia
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vandalia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,865, 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 Vandalia's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Vandalia
Vandalia 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 Vandalia.
Who works in Vandalia, and how
Work in Vandalia centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Vandalia
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Vandalia.
What the weather is like in Vandalia, month by month
Vandalia sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Vandalia
Indianapolis International sits about 42 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 Vandalia
Schools across Vandalia average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Patricksburg Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Spencer Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Owen Valley Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Owen Valley Community High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vandalia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vandalia 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 Vandalia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Vandalia
Is Vandalia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vandalia ranks 30,217th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, state infrastructure, and tree cover, and lowest on taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vandalia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,193. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $72,865 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Vandalia safe?
Yes, Vandalia is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
Compare Vandalia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vandalia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vandalia 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.
Vandalia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vandalia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vandalia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vandalia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vandalia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vandalia 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.