Best PlacesBoyd County, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Boyd County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Boyd County ranks 2,162nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Boyd 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.
The best areas in Boyd County
The parts of Boyd County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Westwood
It is quieter, prices have run up less, and more residents vote.
Catlettsburg
Tree cover is thicker, though streets are more car-dependent.
Ashland
Incomes run lower and local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Boyd County run from about the 6th to the 71st percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Boyd County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Boyd County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$517 a month, better than 88% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of counties
- TransitBetter than 72% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 70% of counties
Where Boyd County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 12% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 17% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Boyd County
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boyd County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,778, 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 Boyd County's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Boyd County
Boyd County 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 Boyd County.
Who works in Boyd County, and how
Work in Boyd County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Boyd County
Boyd County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of counties and more parkland per resident than 78% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Boyd County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Boyd County growing, and who is moving in?
Boyd County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Huntington, WV metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Boyd County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Boyd County, month by month
Boyd County sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Boyd County
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 109 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boyd County
Schools across Boyd County average a C−, better than 23% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Charles Russell Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Hager Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Oakview Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dawson-bryant Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Russell Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Ashland Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- South Point High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Paul G. Blazer High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Boyd County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boyd County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boyd 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 Boyd County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Boyd County suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Boyd County
Is Boyd County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boyd County ranks 2,162nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low disaster risk, and a stable housing market, and lowest on the weather 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 Boyd County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $136,461. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $62,778 median income, cost of living beats 42% of counties.
Is Boyd County safe?
Boyd County is safer than 53% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $295 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Boyd County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 26. That works out to about 59 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Boyd County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Westwood, Catlettsburg, and Ashland. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Boyd County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boyd County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boyd 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.
Boyd County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boyd County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boyd County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boyd County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boyd County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boyd 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.