Best PlacesWabash County, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wabash County, 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.
Wabash County ranks 1,672nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wabash 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.
Wabash County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wabash County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 79% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 75% of counties
Where Wabash County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 16% of counties
- Cheap childcare$872 a month, better than only 31% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 32% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wabash County
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wabash County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,082, 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 Wabash County's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wabash County
Wabash County 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 Wabash County.
Who works in Wabash County, and how
Work in Wabash County 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 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Wabash County
Wabash County has more parkland per resident than 70% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Wabash County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wabash County growing, and who is moving in?
Wabash County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Indianapolis, IN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wabash County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wabash County, month by month
Wabash County sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 19° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Wabash County
The nearest airport, Fort Wayne International, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 83 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wabash County
Schools across Wabash County average a C, better than 32% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Manchester Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Sharp Creek Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Southwood Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manchester Intermediate SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Wabash Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Manchester Jr-sr High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Southwood Jr-sr High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Northfield Jr-sr High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wabash County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wabash 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 Wabash County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wabash County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Wabash County
Is Wabash County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wabash County ranks 1,672nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, fast internet, and health care access, 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 Wabash County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,925. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $72,082 median income, cost of living beats 61% of counties.
Is Wabash County safe?
Wabash County is safer than 43% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wabash County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 19. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of counties.
Is Wabash County good for families?
Schools beat 32% of counties, crime safety beats 43%, and childcare runs $872 a month.
Compare Wabash County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wabash County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wabash 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.
Wabash County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wabash County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wabash County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wabash County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wabash County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wabash 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.