Best PlacesCaldwell County, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Caldwell County, 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.
Caldwell County ranks 2,553rd 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 Caldwell 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.
Caldwell County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Caldwell County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$562 a month, better than 82% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 75% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 73% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 62% of counties
Where Caldwell County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 9% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Caldwell County
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Caldwell County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,177, 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 Caldwell County's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Caldwell County
Caldwell County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Caldwell County.
Who works in Caldwell County, and how
Work in Caldwell County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Caldwell County
Caldwell County has more parkland per resident than 81% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Caldwell County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Caldwell County growing, and who is moving in?
Caldwell County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Lyon County, KY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Caldwell County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Caldwell County, month by month
Caldwell County sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 50° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Caldwell County
The nearest airport, Barkley Regional, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Caldwell County
Schools across Caldwell County average a C, better than 36% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Caldwell County Elementary SchoolC · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Caldwell County Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Caldwell County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Caldwell County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Caldwell 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 Caldwell County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Caldwell County
Is Caldwell County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Caldwell County ranks 2,553rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and low property taxes, and lowest on the weather and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Caldwell County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $125,209. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $61,177 median income, cost of living beats 50% of counties.
Is Caldwell County safe?
Caldwell County is safer than 32% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
Compare Caldwell County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Caldwell County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Caldwell 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.
Caldwell County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Caldwell County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Caldwell County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Caldwell County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Caldwell County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Caldwell 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.