Best PlacesBig Laurel, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Laurel, 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 Laurel ranks 47,015th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Big Laurel
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 Laurel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Laurel ranks high
- Cheap childcare$472 a month, better than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where Big Laurel ranks low
- Household income$43,570 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Laurel
A household needs to earn about $15,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Laurel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $43,570, 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 Laurel's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 4 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 Laurel
Big Laurel runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Big Laurel.
Who works in Big Laurel, and how
Work in Big Laurel centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Big Laurel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Laurel.
What the weather is like in Big Laurel, month by month
Big Laurel sees roughly 87 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 Big Laurel
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 164 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Laurel
Schools across Big Laurel average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stinnett Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Wallins Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Hayes Lewis Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Leslie County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Harlan County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Laurel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Laurel 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 Laurel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Laurel
Is Big Laurel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Laurel ranks 47,015th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and heat safety, and lowest on low incomes and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Laurel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $61,200. The overall cost of living runs about 27% below the national average. Set against a $43,570 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Big Laurel safe?
Big Laurel is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $341 per resident a year.
Compare Big Laurel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Laurel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Laurel 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 Laurel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Laurel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Laurel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Laurel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Laurel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Laurel 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.