Best PlacesWayne Lakes, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wayne Lakes, 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.
Wayne Lakes ranks 28,411th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wayne Lakes
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.
Wayne Lakes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Wayne Lakes ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 79% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 66% of towns
Where Wayne Lakes ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute32.1 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wayne Lakes
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wayne Lakes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,606, 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 Wayne Lakes' effective rate of 1.21%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wayne Lakes
Wayne Lakes'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 Wayne Lakes.
Who works in Wayne Lakes, and how
Work in Wayne Lakes centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Wayne Lakes
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wayne Lakes.
What the weather is like in Wayne Lakes, month by month
Wayne Lakes sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Wayne Lakes
The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 67 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wayne Lakes
Schools across Wayne Lakes average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tri-village Elementary SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Greenville Elementary SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greenville Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Greenville Senior High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wayne Lakes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wayne Lakes 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 Wayne Lakes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wayne Lakes
Is Wayne Lakes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wayne Lakes ranks 28,411th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, few empty homes, and good schools, and lowest on crime and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wayne Lakes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $165,083. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $67,606 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Wayne Lakes safe?
Wayne Lakes is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $410 per resident a year.
Compare Wayne Lakes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wayne Lakes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wayne Lakes 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.
Wayne Lakes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wayne Lakes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wayne Lakes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wayne Lakes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wayne Lakes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wayne Lakes 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.