More and more people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Cincinnati to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: what suburbs of Cincinnati are the worst?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Cincinnati ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Cincinnati area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Cincinnati proper, although Mariemont certainly tries.
We examined the 76 biggest suburbs of Cincinnati to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Ohio lists, these places are a little too far downwind of Cincinnati in terms of quality of life.
$43,281 median income · $155,080 median home price
We’ll get the ball rolling with New Miami, the absolute worst place to live around Cincinnati according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, New Miami beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the Cincinnati area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 3rd worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s New Miami.
You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
$57,102 median income · $255,694 median home price
Located in
Warren County, Ohio
Welcome to Middletown. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 26.2 miles to Cincinnati. Income levels here are the 14th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $57,102 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,692 median income · $130,216 median home price
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Cincinnati suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Elmwood Place on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Cincinnati suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
$43,779 median income · $260,594 median home price
If you live in Bethel, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 4th lowest Cincinnati suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 7th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Cincinnati. Remember, we looked at 76 cities for this study.
Bethel is about 25.7 miles to downtown.
$57,969 median income · $165,905 median home price
Lockland has the distinction of being a Cincinnati suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Lockland has the 4th lowest home values in the metro Cincinnati area, where the median price is $165,905. The median income is $197,750.
Lockland has an unemployment rate of 10.6% which ranks 6th worst.
Data | Movers
$54,565 median income · $190,028 median home price
Located in
Hamilton County, Ohio
Mount Healthy has 6,919 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 21.0%.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$26,860 median income · $127,915 median home price
Ah, Lincoln Heights. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Cincinnati.
It’s the place with the most out of work residents in the Cincinnati metro area (19.1%).
Data | Movers
$55,166 median income · $299,684 median home price
Located in
Butler County, Ohio
Hamilton is a city about 17.8 miles from Cincinnati, but Cincinnati probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Hamilton has the 9th most uninsured people, 13th worst incomes, and has the 14th highest unemployment rate (5.9%) in the entire Cincinnati metro area.
Homes only cost $299,684 for a reason. That’s cheap for Cincinnati standards.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$74,833 median income · $195,799 median home price
If you absolutely have to live near Cincinnati, then Woodlawn might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Cincinnati suburb.
About 4.8% of residents are out of work.
Data | Movers
$61,166 median income · $221,429 median home price
Rounding out the ten worst Cincinnati suburbs to call home is Covington.
Located 7.3 miles outside the city, Covington is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 17th highest unemployment rate (5.7%), and poverty is far above the area average.
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Ohio’s statewide median.
Ohio statewide median: $71,389
Ohio statewide median: $242,141
Ohio statewide median: 4.8%
Ohio statewide median: 13.3%
On the map
Where the worst Cincinnati suburbs are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Cincinnati for 2026
To figure out how bad a Cincinnati suburb is to live in, we used Saturday Night Science to identify the kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2020-2024, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school dropouts
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of Cincinnati.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 76 suburbs to evaluate around Cincinnati.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 76 in each category, where 1 was the worst.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index, the “Worst Suburb near Cincinnati.” We’re looking at you, New Miami.
We updated this article for 2026, which reflects our eleventh time ranking the worst suburbs around Cincinnati.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Worst Cincinnati Suburbs
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Worst Score | Population | Median Income | Median Home Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Miami | 8.00 | 2,223 | $43,281 | $155,080 |
| 2 | Middletown | 17.43 | 51,617 | $57,102 | $255,694 |
| 3 | Elmwood Place | 17.43 | 2,466 | $44,692 | $130,216 |
| 4 | Bethel | 18.07 | 2,658 | $43,779 | $260,594 |
| 5 | Lockland | 18.36 | 3,498 | $57,969 | $165,905 |
| 6 | Mount Healthy | 19.14 | 6,919 | $54,565 | $190,028 |
| 7 | Lincoln Heights | 19.14 | 3,124 | $26,860 | $127,915 |
| 8 | Hamilton | 21.36 | 63,468 | $55,166 | $299,684 |
| 9 | Woodlawn | 22.00 | 3,894 | $74,833 | $195,799 |
| 10 | Covington | 22.14 | 41,110 | $61,166 | $221,429 |
| 11 | Batavia | 22.43 | 2,794 | $60,984 | $329,513 |
| 12 | Crittenden | 22.93 | 4,084 | $57,283 | $286,493 |
| 13 | Aurora | 23.00 | 3,648 | $47,470 | $277,986 |
| 14 | Williamsburg | 23.21 | 2,608 | $62,500 | $275,234 |
| 15 | Newport | 24.57 | 13,967 | $60,853 | $242,641 |
| 16 | Cheviot | 25.36 | 8,660 | $53,132 | $182,475 |
| 17 | North College Hill | 25.64 | 9,555 | $64,655 | $173,602 |
| 18 | Southgate | 25.79 | 3,717 | $54,421 | $223,419 |
| 19 | Dayton | 26.29 | 5,743 | $65,992 | $200,111 |
| 20 | Springdale | 27.43 | 11,033 | $67,903 | $234,179 |
| 21 | Highland Heights | 27.57 | 6,444 | $53,275 | $205,650 |
| 22 | Forest Park | 28.21 | 20,025 | $75,956 | $237,983 |
| 23 | Wilder | 28.29 | 3,135 | $70,893 | $211,532 |
| 24 | Norwood | 28.79 | 19,114 | $71,611 | $247,601 |
| 25 | Cleves | 29.86 | 3,388 | $77,188 | $362,123 |
| 26 | Elsmere | 29.93 | 9,205 | $60,503 | $222,955 |
| 27 | Golf Manor | 30.14 | 3,782 | $44,948 | $195,085 |
| 28 | Lawrenceburg | 31.00 | 5,179 | $51,250 | $248,401 |
| 29 | Oxford | 31.00 | 21,753 | $40,764 | $334,774 |
| 30 | Fairfield | 31.29 | 44,828 | $77,937 | $279,552 |
| 31 | New Richmond | 33.79 | 2,766 | $80,536 | $306,293 |
| 32 | Greendale | 33.93 | 3,986 | $74,980 | $274,422 |
| 33 | Rising Sun | 34.14 | 2,474 | $58,843 | $278,156 |
| 34 | Milford | 34.57 | 6,497 | $78,057 | $331,272 |
| 35 | Erlanger | 34.93 | 19,875 | $75,840 | $245,646 |
| 36 | Reading | 35.29 | 10,502 | $61,866 | $231,958 |
| 37 | Sharonville | 36.43 | 14,030 | $74,649 | $284,334 |
| 38 | Ludlow | 37.07 | 4,378 | $65,284 | $213,778 |
| 39 | Taylor Mill | 37.07 | 6,937 | $88,546 | $276,590 |
| 40 | Florence | 37.86 | 32,803 | $71,003 | $286,328 |
| 41 | Silverton | 38.00 | 4,860 | $72,143 | $258,351 |
| 42 | Morrow | 38.93 | 2,523 | $82,260 | $390,325 |
| 43 | Maineville | 39.64 | 2,070 | $92,979 | $381,609 |
| 44 | St. Bernard | 39.75 | 3,983 | $67,083 | $205,774 |
| 45 | Walton | 39.86 | 5,730 | $77,917 | $349,337 |
| 46 | Crestview Hills | 40.00 | 3,284 | $95,441 | $318,527 |
| 47 | Cold Spring | 43.29 | 6,341 | $75,000 | $302,336 |
| 48 | Trenton | 43.50 | 13,583 | $80,635 | $279,523 |
| 49 | Independence | 43.64 | 29,392 | $102,361 | $323,031 |
| 50 | Bellevue | 43.71 | 5,636 | $71,166 | $245,119 |
| 51 | Greenhills | 44.00 | 3,702 | $70,250 | $228,658 |
| 52 | South Lebanon | 44.50 | 6,712 | $104,511 | $386,045 |
| 53 | Fort Wright | 45.71 | 5,887 | $105,024 | $334,172 |
| 54 | Crescent Springs | 45.71 | 4,486 | $83,066 | $310,074 |
| 55 | Alexandria | 46.07 | 10,562 | $102,239 | $338,680 |
| 56 | Park Hills | 46.43 | 3,165 | $99,861 | $343,282 |
| 57 | Lebanon | 47.50 | 21,501 | $83,685 | $397,421 |
| 58 | Deer Park | 48.50 | 5,384 | $83,371 | $259,931 |
| 59 | Monroe | 48.50 | 15,401 | $105,250 | $352,114 |
| 60 | Fort Mitchell | 51.43 | 8,713 | $86,310 | $398,735 |
| 61 | Harrison | 51.86 | 13,084 | $100,000 | $316,154 |
| 62 | Fort Thomas | 53.00 | 17,169 | $104,350 | $368,293 |
| 63 | Loveland | 53.14 | 13,197 | $94,323 | $445,808 |
| 64 | Villa Hills | 55.43 | 7,480 | $107,859 | $393,017 |
| 65 | Evendale | 55.71 | 2,651 | $148,500 | $500,459 |
| 66 | Amberley | 57.00 | 3,826 | $154,688 | $588,030 |
| 67 | Mason | 58.71 | 35,509 | $125,401 | $510,362 |
| 68 | Edgewood | 59.29 | 8,447 | $119,028 | $361,115 |
| 69 | Blue Ash | 59.71 | 13,455 | $115,313 | $447,598 |
| 70 | Lakeside Park | 60.57 | 2,828 | $128,650 | $344,828 |
| 71 | Terrace Park | 61.57 | 2,295 | $197,750 | $769,547 |
| 72 | Montgomery | 63.43 | 10,855 | $150,995 | $677,977 |
| 73 | Union | 64.29 | 7,642 | $136,712 | $449,093 |
| 74 | Wyoming | 66.57 | 8,723 | $165,188 | $483,221 |
| 75 | Madeira | 67.00 | 9,484 | $167,653 | $531,046 |
| 76 | Mariemont | 68.71 | 3,474 | $152,273 | $684,940 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 76 suburbs within 30 miles of Cincinnati.
Summary
Summary: The areas around Cincinnati where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2026
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Cincinnati with New Miami casting itself ahead of the pack.
The worst suburbs of Cincinnati are New Miami, Middletown, Elmwood Place, Bethel, Lockland, Mount Healthy, Lincoln Heights, Hamilton, Woodlawn, and Covington.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Cincinnati aren’t all bad. Mariemont takes the cake as the best place to live around Cincinnati. Not sold on Ohio? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Worst Suburbs Of Cincinnati FAQs
What is the worst suburb of Cincinnati?
New Miami ranks as the worst suburb around Cincinnati for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. Middletown and Elmwood Place are next on the list.
What are the worst suburbs of Cincinnati?
The worst-ranked suburbs around Cincinnati are New Miami, Middletown, Elmwood Place, Bethel, Lockland, Mount Healthy, Lincoln Heights, Hamilton, Woodlawn, and Covington. We scored all 76 places within 30 miles.
Why does New Miami rank as the worst suburb?
New Miami posts the roughest combined numbers of the 76 suburbs we scored: a median household income of $43,281, a median home value of $155,080, and a poverty rate of 26.0%.
What is the best-ranked suburb near Cincinnati?
Mariemont lands at the opposite end of this ranking, making it the best-ranked suburb near Cincinnati by these measures. Our separate best suburbs of Cincinnati list covers that side properly.
How do you rank the worst suburbs?
Suburbs are scored on unemployment, income, density, home values, dropouts, poverty, and insurance coverage, using Census American Community Survey data. Real numbers, light heart — every one of these towns has people making it work.
