Best PlacesWilloughby, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willoughby, 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.
Willoughby ranks 6,415th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Willoughby
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.
Willoughby's strengths and weaknesses
Where Willoughby ranks high
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Willoughby ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,273 a month, better than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Willoughby
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willoughby home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,053, 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 Willoughby's effective rate of 1.54%, 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 Willoughby
Willoughby 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 Willoughby.
Who works in Willoughby, and how
Work in Willoughby centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Willoughby
Willoughby has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Willoughby and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Willoughby, month by month
Willoughby sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 23° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Willoughby
Cleveland-Hopkins International sits about 28 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 Willoughby
Schools across Willoughby average a B+, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kirtland Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Ridge Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Bellflower Elementary SchoolA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- School Of InnovationA+ · 92% proficient
- West Geauga Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Kirtland Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Kirtland High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- West Geauga High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Mentor High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willoughby school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willoughby 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 Willoughby against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Willoughby suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Willoughby
Is Willoughby a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willoughby ranks 6,415th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Willoughby expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $219,768. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $78,053 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Willoughby safe?
Yes, Willoughby is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $243 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Willoughby?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 23. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of towns.
Is Willoughby good for families?
Schools beat 88% of towns, crime safety beats 68%, and childcare runs $1,273 a month.
Compare Willoughby with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willoughby. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willoughby 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.
Willoughby detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willoughby: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willoughby: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willoughby: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willoughby: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willoughby 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.