Best PlacesBird City, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bird City, 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.
Bird City ranks 22,585th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bird City
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.
Bird City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bird City ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute14.6 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 133 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
Where Bird City ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bird City
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bird City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,246, 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 Bird City's effective rate of 1.35%, 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 Bird City
Bird City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bird City.
Who works in Bird City, and how
Work in Bird City centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bird City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bird City.
What the weather is like in Bird City, month by month
Bird City sees roughly 133 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 28° | 17° |
| April | 68° | 49° | 34° |
| July | 93° | 76° | 62° |
| October | 70° | 51° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Bird City
The nearest airport, North Platte Regional/Lee Bird Field, is about 105 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bird City
Schools across Bird City average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cheylin ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- St Francis ElemB− · 43% proficient
- North ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Brewster HighD+ · 25% proficient
- St Francis HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Cheylin Jr/sr HighD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bird City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bird City 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 Bird City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bird City
Is Bird City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bird City ranks 22,585th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on tree cover and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bird City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $137,755. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $62,246 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Bird City safe?
Bird City is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $317 per resident a year.
Compare Bird City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bird City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bird City 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.
Bird City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bird City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bird City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bird City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bird City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bird City 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.