Best PlacesBig Clifty, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Clifty, 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.
Big Clifty ranks 43,371st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Big Clifty
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.
Big Clifty's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Clifty ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 76% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 69% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 67% of towns
Where Big Clifty ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Household income$50,310 median, better than only 13% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Clifty
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Clifty home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,310, 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 Big Clifty's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 Big Clifty
Big Clifty runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Big Clifty.
Who works in Big Clifty, and how
Work in Big Clifty centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Big Clifty
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Clifty.
What the weather is like in Big Clifty, month by month
Big Clifty sees roughly 64 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 | 68° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Big Clifty
The nearest airport, Louisville Muhammad Ali International, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Clifty
Schools across Big Clifty average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clarkson Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Lakewood Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Hardin Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Grayson County Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Hardin High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Grayson County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Clifty school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Clifty 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 Big Clifty against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Clifty
Is Big Clifty a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Clifty ranks 43,371st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, few empty homes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on education levels and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Clifty expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,569. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $50,310 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Big Clifty safe?
Big Clifty is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.
Compare Big Clifty with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Clifty. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Clifty 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.
Big Clifty detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Clifty: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Clifty: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Clifty: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Clifty: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Clifty 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.