Best PlacesWood County, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wood County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wood County ranks 325th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $83,331, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are noise, property taxes, and the weather.
The best neighborhoods in Wood County
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.
The best areas in Wood County
The parts of Wood County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Perrysburg & Rossford
More residents vote, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Pemberville & Luckey
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Northwood, Walbridge & Millbury
Fewer adults hold degrees and biking is worse.
Fostoria
Homes cost less, though commutes are longer.
North Baltimore
Prices have run up less, though advertised internet is slower.
Bowling Green
Health care is harder to reach and crime runs higher.
Scores across Wood County run from about the 19th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wood County's strengths and weaknesses
Wood County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Cheap car insurance is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Fast internet and good schools follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, property taxes, and the weather hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Wood County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 95% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of counties
Where Wood County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of counties
- Cheap childcare$959 a month, better than only 20% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wood County
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wood County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,331, 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 Wood County's effective rate of 1.33%, 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 Wood County
Wood County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Wood County.
Who works in Wood County, and how
Work in Wood County 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 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wood County
Wood County has more parkland per resident than 81% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 94% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wood County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wood County growing, and who is moving in?
Wood County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Toledo, OH metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wood County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wood County, month by month
Wood County sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Wood County
The nearest airport, Eugene F Kranz Toledo Express, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wood County
Schools across Wood County average an A−, better than 95% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Fort Meigs Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Waterville Primary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Eastwood Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fallen Timbers Middle SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Perrysburg Junior High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Hull Prairie Intermediate SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- Eastwood I High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Perrysburg High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Lakota High SchoolA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wood County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wood County 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 Wood County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wood County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Wood County
Is Wood County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wood County ranks 325th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, fast internet, and good schools, 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 Wood County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,401. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $83,331 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is Wood County safe?
Yes, Wood County is safer than 82% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wood County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 21. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wood County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Perrysburg & Rossford, Pemberville & Luckey, and Northwood, Walbridge & Millbury. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Wood County good for families?
Schools beat 95% of counties, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $959 a month.
Is Wood County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 97% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Wood County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wood County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wood County 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.
Wood County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wood County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wood County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wood County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wood County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wood County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.