Best PlacesWestlake, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westlake, 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.
Westlake ranks 162nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Westlake
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.
Westlake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westlake ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- School gradeA+, better than 96% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of cities
Where Westlake ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 33% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 34% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Westlake
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westlake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $128,893, 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 Westlake's effective rate of 1.50%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Westlake
Westlake runs older 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 Westlake.
Who works in Westlake, and how
Work in Westlake centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Westlake
Westlake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Westlake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Westlake, month by month
Westlake sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, 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 | 38° | 30° | 23° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Westlake
Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 5 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.9 million passengers in 2025, with 72 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Westlake
Schools across Westlake average an A+, better than 96% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Westlake Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Gilles-sweet Elementary SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Maple Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lee Burneson Middle SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Dover Intermediate SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top high schools
- Westlake High SchoolA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westlake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westlake 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 Westlake against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Westlake suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of cities and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Westlake
Is Westlake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westlake ranks 162nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, health care access, and low disaster risk, and lowest on the weather and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Westlake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $406,054. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $128,893 median income, cost of living beats 94% of cities.
Is Westlake safe?
Westlake is safer than 41% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $302 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Westlake?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 23. That works out to about 59 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of cities.
Is Westlake good for families?
Schools beat 96% of cities, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Westlake with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westlake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westlake 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.
Westlake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westlake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westlake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westlake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westlake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westlake 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.