Best PlacesBerea, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berea, 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.
Berea ranks 1,693rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Berea
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.
Berea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Berea ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 92% of cities
- Cheap childcare$780 a month, better than 83% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 75% of cities
- QuietBetter than 74% of cities
Where Berea ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 11% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Berea
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,709, 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 Berea'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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Berea
Berea runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Berea.
Who works in Berea, and how
Work in Berea centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Berea
Berea has more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Berea and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Berea, month by month
Berea sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 29° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Berea
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Berea
Schools across Berea average a C, better than 27% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Roundstone Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Shannon Johnson Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Kingston Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Farristown Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Foley Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Berea Community Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Madison Southern High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Berea Community High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Garrard County High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berea 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 Berea against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Berea suits
Families
Schools land around the 27th percentile and crime safety beats 61%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Berea
Is Berea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berea ranks 1,693rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, affordable childcare, and low disaster risk, and lowest on distance from a big city and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Berea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $207,632. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $65,709 median income, cost of living beats 22% of cities.
Is Berea safe?
Yes, Berea is safer than 61% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $258 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Berea?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 29. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of cities.
Is Berea good for families?
Schools beat 27% of cities, crime safety beats 61%, and childcare runs $780 a month.
Compare Berea with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berea 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.
Berea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berea 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.