Living in Kettering, Ohio
Kettering has parks all through it. Delco Park has a paved loop, Indian Riffle Park circles a stocked pond, and the Iron Horse Trail runs through State Farm Park. Hills & Dales MetroPark sits on the Oakwood line, and Polen Farm keeps its 1854 farmhouse and 1864 barn. Town & Country Shopping Center on Far Hills Avenue opened in the early 1950s.
Summer in Kettering centers on Fraze Pavilion, the city's outdoor concert venue, with shows from May through September. Go 4th puts fireworks over Delco Park on July 4, and Art on the Commons fills mid-August. Holiday at Home takes over Labor Day weekend with a parade, a 5K and a car show.
Kettering's mid-century housing is mostly brick ranches, Cape Cods and split-levels from the 1950s and 1960s, and the median sale price in Kettering was $260,000 (three-month median, September 2026). Oak Creek, Southern Hills, Beavertown and Southdale are among the neighborhoods, and Rolandale has condos. The city income tax is 2.25 percent and property taxes run roughly 2.2 percent of market value. Several Kettering ZIP codes are shared with Dayton, so some homes here have a Dayton mailing address.
Montgomery County
What is in Kettering
Fraze Pavilion and Lincoln Park Civic Commons
A city-owned outdoor amphitheater on Lincoln Park Boulevard, open since 1991 (Marvin Hamlisch played the first night), named for Ermal Fraze, the Kettering resident who invented the pop-top can. The season runs May to September with national touring acts and Dayton Philharmonic dates, which makes it a major concert venue. Outside the gates, Lincoln Park Civic Commons is lawn, fountain and paths around the Government Center on Shroyer Road. Art on the Commons happens here each August with juried artists and live music, run by Rosewood Arts Center. Festival of the Vine, Swamp Romp, Blues Fest and Spass Nacht (for sister city Steyr, Austria) have also been held here.
Delco Park, Indian Riffle Park and the Iron Horse Trail
Delco Park has a paved loop, a BMX loop, sports fields, a fishing pond and the Veterans Memorial; the city's Go 4th fireworks go up here on July 4, with food trucks and performers. Indian Riffle Park has a paved loop around a stocked fishing pond, open green space and sports fields. The Iron Horse Trail is a paved path through State Farm Park between Galewood Street and County Line Road, part of a longer bikeway on the old interurban right of way that links toward Centerville.
Hills & Dales MetroPark
On the Kettering and Oakwood line, laid out by the Olmsted Brothers for NCR founder John H. Patterson. Wooded trail, including the Adirondack Trail loop around Dogwood Pond with a raised wooden path through a forested wetland; camps at White Oak, Twin Oak, Adirondack, Paw Paw (restrooms and a fireplace shelter) and Old Barn; and the 1920s Patterson monument.
Kettering Recreation Complex and Adventure Reef
On Glengarry Drive: a lap pool and spa, the Kettering Ice Arena, a gym, an indoor track and fitness rooms. The original recreation center opened in 1970. Adventure Reef is the outdoor water park on the same site, open in summer with slides, a splash pad and deck seating.
Rosewood Arts Center and Polen Farm
Rosewood, the city's arts center, opened in 1985 and has since been renovated with a theater, galleries and studios for dance, glass, metals, ceramics, painting and youth classes. Polen Farm on Bigger Road is city-owned, with an 1854 farmhouse and an 1864 barn built by Joseph and Ann Bigger, now used for events and weddings.
Town & Country and the Dorothy Lane corridor
Kettering's shopping runs along Far Hills Avenue and Dorothy Lane. Town & Country at Far Hills Avenue and Stroop Road opened in 1951, with an enclosed section and the open-air Village Shops, one of the first centers in the country with lighted signs and parking for night shopping. A renovation announced in late 2014 brought in new stores and expanded the grocery by a quarter, and restaurants and shops fill the rest of the center. Kettering Towne Center is at East Dorothy Lane and Woodman Drive. Dorothy Lane Market, the Dayton grocer founded in 1948, has its original store at Far Hills and Dorothy Lane, and its Oakwood and Washington Square stores both serve Kettering. Cornerstone of Centerville, a large shopping center, is nearby in Centerville.
Holiday at Home
Labor Day weekend, Sunday and Monday. It dates to around 1960: a parade, a 5K, an arts and crafts show, a car show and entertainment, billed as one of Ohio's largest and oldest Labor Day celebrations.
The city's own site: City of Kettering.
Homes in Kettering
Kettering is a 1950s and 1960s story almost end to end: brick ranches, Capes and split-levels on curving streets and cul-de-sacs, built from 1956 to 1970. The character shifts by side of town.
North Kettering, the Dayton and Oakwood side (45409 and 45419), has the oldest postwar brick ranches and Capes plus the pre-war pockets: Southern Hills along the old Dayton-to-Lebanon interurban line, and the 1910s to 1930s larger houses in Hills & Dales and west of Far Hills near Oakwood, where Charles Kettering's own Ridgeleigh Terrace (1912, the first private home in the country with air conditioning) still stands. The east side (45420) has Beavertown, settled in 1798 as Buddsbury, and Greenmont, where houses went up fast in 1942 and 1943 for war workers. The south side (45429 and 45440) has the later 1960s and 1970s two-stories and the Oak Creek and Oak Creek South subdivisions toward the Centerville line. Rolandale is condos, and Southdale is another established neighborhood.
Kettering was built out by 1970, so new construction here is infill and the occasional teardown. Condos and attached housing are spread across the city rather than concentrated in one place. Many Kettering houses carry a Dayton mailing address, because 45409, 45419, 45420 and 45429 are shared with Dayton and Oakwood. A search by city name can undercount; search by ZIP, then confirm the taxing district on the auditor's site. All current listings.
Property taxes in Kettering
2.19%
Effective property tax rate, tax year 2025, payable 2026
The effective rate for Kettering is about 2.19% of market value for an owner-occupied home.
City income tax
The city income tax is 2.25 percent.
Credits
The owner-occupancy credit is yours only if you live there, so claim it once you've moved in. The homestead exemption takes a fixed slice of value off the taxable amount for owners 65 and older, owners with a permanent disability and qualifying surviving spouses, with an income limit; the Montgomery County Auditor publishes the current figures.
The parcel record at the Montgomery County Auditor shows the taxing district and last year's actual bill.
Questions people ask about Kettering
Why does my Kettering house have a Dayton mailing address?
Because 45409, 45419, 45420 and 45429 are shared with Dayton and Oakwood. The post office doesn't follow city limits; the auditor's taxing district is what says which city a parcel is in and which district bills it.
What is the property tax rate in Kettering, Ohio?
An effective rate of about 2.19% of auditor market value for an owner-occupied home, tax year 2025. The city income tax is 2.25%. The Montgomery County Auditor's parcel record shows the taxing district and last year's actual bill.
Where are the shopping and gathering places in Kettering?
Town & Country at Far Hills and Stroop (opened 1951), Lincoln Park Civic Commons around Fraze Pavilion and the Government Center, and the Dorothy Lane corridor.
What is it like to live in Kettering?
Kettering is a city of brick ranches, Capes and split-levels from the 1950s and 1960s, with Delco Park, Indian Riffle Park and Hills & Dales MetroPark close by and summer concerts at Fraze Pavilion from May through September. Many Kettering houses carry a Dayton mailing address, so the Montgomery County Auditor's parcel record is the place to confirm the taxing district, the year built and last year's bill. Tell me which Kettering street you're eyeing and I'll check its district for you.
Near Kettering
Oakwood
Shares the north line and Hills & Dales MetroPark; Far Hills Avenue runs through both.
Effective property tax rate 2.61%, tax year 2025
Centerville
Directly south, also in Montgomery County.
Effective property tax rate 2.04%, tax year 2025
Beavercreek
East across the county line in Greene County, home to The Greene and Fairfield Commons.
Effective property tax rate 2.29%, tax year 2025
Reading on Kettering
Buying · July 28, 2026
Buying a home in Kettering, Ohio: what to know before you start looking (2026 guide)
Want a Kettering address checked for tax?
Share your price range and I'll send the brick ranches that fit it this week, with the sales behind them, the tax bill on each and the monthly payment. If the money isn't lined up yet, Homeward is the free coaching for lining it up, and the buyer page shows what happens once it is.