Best PlacesWatkins, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Watkins, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Watkins ranks 1,223rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Watkins
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.
Watkins' strengths and weaknesses
Where Watkins ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$149,792 median, better than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
Where Watkins ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 11% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 23% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Watkins
A household needs to earn about $103,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Watkins home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $149,792, 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 Watkins' effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Watkins
Watkins's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Watkins.
Who works in Watkins, and how
Work in Watkins centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Watkins
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Watkins.
What the weather is like in Watkins, month by month
Watkins sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 62° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Watkins
John Glenn Columbus International sits about 24 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 94 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Watkins
Schools across Watkins average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fairbanks Elementary SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Northwood ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Buckeye Valley West Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Creekview Intermediate Elementary SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Fairbanks Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Buckeye Valley Local Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairbanks High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Buckeye Valley Local High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Marysville High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Watkins school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Watkins 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 Watkins against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Watkins
Is Watkins a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Watkins ranks 1,223rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, cheap car insurance, and few empty homes, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Watkins expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $374,560. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $149,792 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Watkins safe?
Watkins is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $280 per resident a year.
Compare Watkins with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Watkins. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Watkins 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.
Watkins detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Watkins: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Watkins: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Watkins: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Watkins: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Watkins 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.