Best PlacesBuchanan, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Buchanan, 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.
Buchanan ranks 48,633rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Buchanan
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.
Buchanan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Buchanan ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 70% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 68% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 68% of towns
Where Buchanan ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,875 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Buchanan
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Buchanan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $36,875, 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 Buchanan's effective rate of 0.56%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Buchanan
Buchanan 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 Buchanan.
Who works in Buchanan, and how
Work in Buchanan centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Buchanan
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Buchanan.
What the weather is like in Buchanan, month by month
Buchanan sees roughly 60 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 Buchanan
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Buchanan
Schools across Buchanan average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Louisa Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Lawrence County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Buchanan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Buchanan 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 Buchanan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Buchanan
Is Buchanan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Buchanan ranks 48,633rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and low property taxes, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay 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 Buchanan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $105,900. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $36,875 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Buchanan safe?
Yes, Buchanan is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
Compare Buchanan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Buchanan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Buchanan 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.
Buchanan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Buchanan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Buchanan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Buchanan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Buchanan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Buchanan 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.