Best PlacesWalnut Hills, Cincinnati, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, 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.
Walnut Hills, Cincinnati ranks 3,804th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. Empty homes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati
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.
Walnut Hills, Cincinnati's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walnut Hills, Cincinnati ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- Short commute18.4 minutes each way, better than 88% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 79% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of neighborhoods
Where Walnut Hills, Cincinnati ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
- School gradeD, better than only 14% of neighborhoods
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walnut Hills, Cincinnati home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,368, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Walnut Hills, Cincinnati's effective rate of 1.46%, 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 Walnut Hills, Cincinnati
Walnut Hills, Cincinnati runs younger 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 Walnut Hills, Cincinnati.
Who works in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, and how
Work in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati
Walnut Hills, Cincinnati has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of neighborhoods and more parkland per resident than 95% of neighborhoods. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Walnut Hills, Cincinnati and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, month by month
Walnut Hills, Cincinnati sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 23° |
| April | 69° | 54° | 41° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Walnut Hills, Cincinnati
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 11 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Walnut Hills, Cincinnati
Schools across Walnut Hills, Cincinnati average a D, better than 14% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Academy Of World Languages SchoolD · 18% proficient
- Frederick Douglass SchoolD− · 11% proficient
- Dampe Community SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Hughes Stem High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Dohn CommunityF · 3% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walnut Hills, Cincinnati school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walnut Hills, Cincinnati 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 Walnut Hills, Cincinnati against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati
Is Walnut Hills, Cincinnati a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walnut Hills, Cincinnati ranks 3,804th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, transit, and short commutes, and lowest on empty homes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Walnut Hills, Cincinnati expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $279,658. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $64,368 median income, cost of living beats 48% of neighborhoods.
Is Walnut Hills, Cincinnati safe?
Walnut Hills, Cincinnati is safer than 12% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $763 per resident a year.
Compare Walnut Hills, Cincinnati with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walnut Hills, Cincinnati. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati 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.
Walnut Hills, Cincinnati detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walnut Hills, Cincinnati: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walnut Hills, Cincinnati: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walnut Hills, Cincinnati 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.