Best PlacesBourbon County, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bourbon County, 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.
Bourbon County ranks 2,064th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on fast internet, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bourbon County
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.
Bourbon County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bourbon County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 72% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 68% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 68% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 67% of counties
Where Bourbon County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 11% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 13% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 18% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bourbon County
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bourbon County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,152, 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 Bourbon County's effective rate of 0.60%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bourbon County
Bourbon County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bourbon County.
Who works in Bourbon County, and how
Work in Bourbon County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Bourbon County
Bourbon County has more parkland per resident than 70% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Bourbon County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bourbon County growing, and who is moving in?
Bourbon County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Lexington, KY metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bourbon County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bourbon County, month by month
Bourbon County sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 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 | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Bourbon County
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 63 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bourbon County
Schools across Bourbon County average a D+, better than 11% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Cane Ridge Elementary SchoolC− · 25% proficient
- Bourbon Central Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Paris Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bourbon County Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Paris Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Bourbon County High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Paris High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bourbon County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bourbon County 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 Bourbon County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Bourbon County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bourbon County
Is Bourbon County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bourbon County ranks 2,064th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, low disaster risk, and cell coverage, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bourbon County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $246,545. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $66,152 median income, cost of living beats 49% of counties.
Is Bourbon County safe?
Bourbon County is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $302 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bourbon County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 27. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 25% of counties.
Is Bourbon County good for families?
Schools beat 11% of counties, crime safety beats 52%, and childcare runs $852 a month.
Compare Bourbon County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bourbon County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bourbon County 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.
Bourbon County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bourbon County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bourbon County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bourbon County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bourbon County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bourbon County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.