Best PlacesWarren County, OH Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Warren County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Warren County ranks 28th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $118,818, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are the weather, childcare costs, and air quality.

#28
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Warren County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Warren County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

The best areas in Warren County

The parts of Warren County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.

#1

Mason

More adults hold degrees, biking is better, and local pay stretches further.

WorseBetter
95th nationally
#2

Waynesville & Dayton

It is quieter and incomes run higher.

WorseBetter
95th nationally
#3

Otterbein

More households have young kids, though homes cost more.

WorseBetter
92nd nationally
#4

Maineville

Prices have run up more.

WorseBetter
91st nationally
#5

Springboro

Crime runs lower.

WorseBetter
89th nationally
#6

South Lebanon

Scores close to Springboro, except that fewer residents vote here.

WorseBetter
84th nationally
#7

Morrow

Tree cover is thicker, though commutes are longer.

WorseBetter
84th nationally
#8

Lebanon

Schools score lower.

WorseBetter
81st nationally
#9

Franklin & Carlisle

Health outcomes score lower and health care is harder to reach.

WorseBetter
45th nationally

Scores across Warren County run from about the 17th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.


Warren County's strengths and weaknesses

#28Best US county overall
Top 3%Good schools
Top 3%What local pay buys
Top 3%Few empty homes

Warren County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Good schools is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. What local pay buys and few empty homes follow.

The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, childcare costs, and air quality hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Warren County with other counties.

Where Warren County ranks high

  • School gradeA, better than 99% of counties
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of counties
  • Low vacancyBetter than 98% of counties
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of counties
  • Household income$118,818 median, better than 97% of counties

Where Warren County ranks low

  • Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 8% of counties
  • Air qualityBetter than only 12% of counties
  • Low property taxBetter than only 18% of counties
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 25% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Warren County

A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Warren County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $118,818, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$99,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,320
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $359,722 home
Median rent
$1,510
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,834
Property tax$366
Homeowners insurance$120

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 Warren County's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Warren County

Warren County's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
41
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
16%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1823%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6421%
65 and older16%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Warren County.


Who works in Warren County, and how

Work in Warren County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
18%
above the national average
Unemployment
3.6%
below the national average
Job growth
+2.9%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing17%
Health care & social13%
Professional & technical11%
Retail trade10%
Education9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 80%
  • Work from home 18%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in Warren County

Warren County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 65% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Warren County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
826
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 34.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 21% of counties
Coffee shops
104
about 4.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 38% of counties
Parkland
1,420 acres
about 5.9 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 65% of counties
Open past 10pm
~227
food and drink venues open late, about 9.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 73% of counties

Is Warren County growing, and who is moving in?

Warren County has grown about 16% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Cincinnati, OH metro.

Population growth
+16%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
256,059
up from 221,267
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

The rest of the Cincinnati, OH metro5,825 / yr
Dayton, OH2,614 / yr
Columbus, OH762 / yr
Youngstown, OH494 / yr
Memphis, TN476 / yr

Where people leaving Warren County go

The rest of the Cincinnati, OH metro5,874 / yr
Dayton, OH1,928 / yr
Columbus, OH804 / yr
Clinton County, OH539 / yr
Dallas, TX333 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Warren County, month by month

Warren County sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January41°32°23°
April67°54°42°
July87°76°66°
October70°58°46°

Flying in and out of Warren County

The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 34 miles away.

Nearest airport
DAY
James M Cox Dayton International, about 33 miles
Airport size
Small hub
129th-busiest in the US, 33 nonstop destinations
Average drive
47 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Warren County

Schools across Warren County average an A, better than 99% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Warren County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Warren 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 Warren County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Warren County suits

Families

Schools beat 99% of counties and crime safety beats 87%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of counties and 18% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 97%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Warren County

Is Warren County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Warren County ranks 28th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, what local pay buys, and few empty homes, and lowest on the weather and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Warren County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $359,722. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $118,818 median income, cost of living beats 98% of counties.

Is Warren County safe?

Yes, Warren County is safer than 87% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $222 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Warren County?

July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 23. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of counties.

What are the best neighborhoods in Warren County?

Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Mason, Waynesville & Dayton, and Otterbein. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.

Is Warren County good for families?

Schools beat 99% of counties, crime safety beats 87%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.

Is Warren County good for remote workers?

Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 55% of counties. About 18% of workers already work from home.


Compare Warren County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Warren County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Warren 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.

Warren County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Warren County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Warren County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Warren County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Warren County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Warren County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.