Best PlacesWaterloo, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waterloo, 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.
Waterloo ranks 20,027th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waterloo
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.
Waterloo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waterloo ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
Where Waterloo ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 25% of towns
- Cheap childcare$890 a month, better than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waterloo
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waterloo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,276, 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 Waterloo's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Waterloo
Waterloo's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Waterloo.
Who works in Waterloo, and how
Work in Waterloo 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 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Waterloo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Waterloo.
What the weather is like in Waterloo, month by month
Waterloo sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Waterloo
The nearest airport, Fort Wayne International, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 101 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waterloo
Schools across Waterloo average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Country Meadow Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Hamilton Community Elementary SchC · 34% proficient
- Pleasant Lake Elementary SchoolC · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Angola Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Dekalb Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Dekalb High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Angola High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Hamilton Community High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waterloo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waterloo 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 Waterloo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waterloo
Is Waterloo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waterloo ranks 20,027th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, transit, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waterloo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $184,079. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $77,276 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Waterloo safe?
Waterloo is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.
Compare Waterloo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waterloo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waterloo 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.
Waterloo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waterloo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waterloo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waterloo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waterloo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waterloo 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.