Best PlacesVanderburgh County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Vanderburgh County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Vanderburgh County ranks 1,952nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the weather and noise. It does better on walkability, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Vanderburgh 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.
Vanderburgh County's strengths and weaknesses
Vanderburgh County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Walkability, fast internet, and cell coverage carry most of that.
The one real hole is the weather, near the bottom of the country. Noise and crime also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Vanderburgh County ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of counties
- Short commute19.6 minutes each way, better than 81% of counties
Where Vanderburgh County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 52 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 3% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Vanderburgh County
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vanderburgh County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,102, 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 Vanderburgh County's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Vanderburgh County
Vanderburgh County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Vanderburgh County.
Who works in Vanderburgh County, and how
Work in Vanderburgh County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Vanderburgh County
Vanderburgh County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of counties and more parkland per resident than 77% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Vanderburgh County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Vanderburgh County growing, and who is moving in?
Vanderburgh County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Evansville, IN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Vanderburgh County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Vanderburgh County, month by month
Vanderburgh County sees roughly 52 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 45° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 75° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Vanderburgh County
The nearest airport, Evansville Regional, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Vanderburgh County
Schools across Vanderburgh County average a C+, better than 55% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mccutchanville Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- West Terrace Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Cynthia Heights Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Junior High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Perry Heights Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Helfrich Park Stem AcademyB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Signature School IncA+ · 95% proficient
- North High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Francis Joseph Reitz High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vanderburgh County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vanderburgh 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 Vanderburgh County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Vanderburgh County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Vanderburgh County
Is Vanderburgh County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vanderburgh County ranks 1,952nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, fast internet, and cell coverage, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vanderburgh County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $183,406. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $69,102 median income, cost of living beats 56% of counties.
Is Vanderburgh County safe?
Vanderburgh County is safer than 10% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $572 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Vanderburgh County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 25. That works out to about 52 pleasant days a year, more than 1% of counties.
Is Vanderburgh County good for families?
Schools beat 55% of counties, crime safety beats 10%, and childcare runs $801 a month.
Is Vanderburgh County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 56% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 87% of counties. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Vanderburgh County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vanderburgh County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vanderburgh 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.
Vanderburgh County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vanderburgh County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vanderburgh County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vanderburgh County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vanderburgh County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vanderburgh 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.