Best PlacesBardstown, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bardstown, 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.
Bardstown ranks 23,527th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on fast internet, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bardstown
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.
Bardstown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bardstown ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 73% of towns
Where Bardstown ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 26% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bardstown
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bardstown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,506, 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 Bardstown's effective rate of 0.76%, 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.
Who lives in Bardstown
Bardstown's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Bardstown.
Who works in Bardstown, and how
Work in Bardstown centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bardstown
Bardstown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of towns and more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bardstown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bardstown, month by month
Bardstown sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Bardstown
The nearest airport, Louisville Muhammad Ali International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 95 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bardstown
Schools across Bardstown average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bardstown Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Boston SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Coxs Creek Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bardstown Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Bloomfield Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Old Kentucky Home Middle SchoolD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Bardstown High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Thomas Nelson High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Nelson County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bardstown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bardstown 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 Bardstown against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Bardstown suits
Families
Schools land around the 26th percentile and crime safety beats 71%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Bardstown
Is Bardstown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bardstown ranks 23,527th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, few empty homes, and walkability, and lowest on car insurance costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bardstown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $230,914. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $66,506 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Bardstown safe?
Yes, Bardstown is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bardstown?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 27. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of towns.
Is Bardstown good for families?
Schools beat 26% of towns, crime safety beats 71%, and childcare runs $715 a month.
Compare Bardstown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bardstown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bardstown 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.
Bardstown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bardstown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bardstown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bardstown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bardstown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bardstown 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.