Best PlacesBailey Creek, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bailey Creek, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bailey Creek ranks 48,275th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bailey Creek
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.
Bailey Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bailey Creek ranks high
- Cheap childcare$461 a month, better than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 70% of towns
Where Bailey Creek ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Household income$39,530 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bailey Creek
A household needs to earn about $17,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bailey Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $39,530, 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 Bailey Creek's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bailey Creek
Bailey Creek 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 Bailey Creek.
Who works in Bailey Creek, and how
Work in Bailey Creek centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bailey Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bailey Creek.
What the weather is like in Bailey Creek, month by month
Bailey Creek sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Bailey Creek
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 166 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bailey Creek
Schools across Bailey Creek average a D, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wallins Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Harlan County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bailey Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bailey Creek 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 Bailey Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bailey Creek
Is Bailey Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bailey Creek ranks 48,275th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on thin health care access and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bailey Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $65,772. The overall cost of living runs about 28% below the national average. Set against a $39,530 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Bailey Creek safe?
Bailey Creek is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $374 per resident a year.
Compare Bailey Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bailey Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bailey Creek 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.
Bailey Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bailey Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bailey Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bailey Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bailey Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bailey Creek 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.