Best PlacesBow, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bow, 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.
Bow ranks 45,878th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bow
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.
Bow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bow ranks high
- Cheap childcare$439 a month, better than 97% of towns
- Short commute17.2 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of towns
Where Bow ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$35,705 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bow
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $35,705, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Bow's effective rate of 0.56%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Bow
Bow runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bow.
Who works in Bow, and how
Work in Bow centers on transportation & warehousing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Bow
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bow.
What the weather is like in Bow, month by month
Bow sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 35° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 74° | 58° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Bow
Nashville International sits about 87 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.6 million passengers in 2025, with 158 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Bow
Schools across Bow average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cumberland County Elementary SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cumberland County Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Cumberland County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bow 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 Bow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bow
Is Bow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bow ranks 45,878th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and tree cover, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,490. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $35,705 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Bow safe?
Bow is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $375 per resident a year.
Compare Bow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bow 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.
Bow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bow 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.