Best PlacesBallard County, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ballard 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.
Ballard County ranks 2,390th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a strong job market.
The best neighborhoods in Ballard 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.
Ballard County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ballard County ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 80% of counties
- QuietBetter than 78% of counties
- Cheap childcare$591 a month, better than 74% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 69% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 63% of counties
Where Ballard County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 13% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ballard County
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ballard County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,552, 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 Ballard County's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ballard County
Ballard County 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 Ballard County.
Who works in Ballard County, and how
Work in Ballard County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ballard County
Ballard County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of counties and more parkland per resident than 75% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ballard County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ballard County growing, and who is moving in?
Ballard County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Paducah, KY metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ballard County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ballard County, month by month
Ballard County sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 61° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Ballard County
The nearest airport, Barkley Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ballard County
Schools across Ballard County average a C−, better than 26% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Ballard County Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Meridian Elementary SchoolF · 3% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ballard County Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Ballard Memorial High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Meridian High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ballard County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ballard 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 Ballard County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Ballard County
Is Ballard County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ballard County ranks 2,390th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on a strong job market, quiet, and affordable childcare, and lowest on the weather and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ballard County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $153,971. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $64,552 median income, cost of living beats 59% of counties.
Is Ballard County safe?
Yes, Ballard County is safer than 63% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
Compare Ballard County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ballard County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ballard 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.
Ballard County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ballard County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ballard County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ballard County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ballard County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ballard 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.