Best PlacesAllen County, KY Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Allen County, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Allen County ranks 2,476th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on quiet.

#2,476
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Allen County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Allen County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Allen County's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Allen County with other counties.

Where Allen County ranks high

  • QuietBetter than 79% of counties
  • Low property taxBetter than 74% of counties
  • Crime safetyBetter than 66% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$660 a month, better than 65% of counties
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 62% of counties

Where Allen County ranks low

  • Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of counties
  • BikingBetter than only 12% of counties
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of counties
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of counties
  • School gradeD+, better than only 15% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Allen County

A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Allen County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,303, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$50,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,168
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $198,252 home
Median rent
$850
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,011
Property tax$92
Homeowners insurance$66

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 Allen County's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Allen County

Allen County's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
41
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
18%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6420%
65 and older18%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Allen County.


Who works in Allen County, and how

Work in Allen County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
6%
below the national average
Unemployment
5.0%
about the national average
Job growth
+1.8%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing22%
Health care & social11%
Retail trade10%
Hospitality & food10%
Education10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 87%
  • Work from home 6%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 7%

Life in Allen County

Allen County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Allen County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
120
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 58.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 69% of counties
Coffee shops
14
about 6.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 65% of counties

Is Allen County growing, and who is moving in?

Allen County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Bowling Green, KY metro.

Population growth
+8%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
22,037
up from 20,493
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

The rest of the Bowling Green, KY metro473 / yr
Cincinnati, OH81 / yr
Monroe County, KY62 / yr
Lawton, OK62 / yr
Los Angeles, CA54 / yr

Where people leaving Allen County go

The rest of the Bowling Green, KY metro327 / yr
Nashville, TN269 / yr
Barren County, KY117 / yr
Cincinnati, OH104 / yr
Lexington, KY79 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Allen County, month by month

Allen County sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January48°38°31°
April72°60°49°
July90°80°72°
October74°62°51°

Flying in and out of Allen County

Nashville International sits about 50 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.6 million passengers in 2025, with 158 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
BNA
Nashville International, about 50 miles
Airport size
Large hub
25th-busiest in the US, 158 nonstop destinations
Average drive
72 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Allen County

Schools across Allen County average a D+, better than 15% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Allen County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Allen 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 Allen County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Allen County suits

Families

Schools land around the 15th percentile and crime safety beats 66%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

6% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

It is quieter than 79%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Allen County

Is Allen County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Allen County ranks 2,476th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and low crime, and lowest on the weather and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Allen County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $198,252. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $62,303 median income, cost of living beats 33% of counties.

Is Allen County safe?

Yes, Allen County is safer than 66% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $272 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Allen County?

July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 31. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of counties.

Is Allen County good for families?

Schools beat 15% of counties, crime safety beats 66%, and childcare runs $660 a month.


Compare Allen County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Allen County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Allen 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.

Allen County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Allen County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Allen County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Allen County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Allen County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Allen County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.