Best PlacesCampbell County, KY Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Campbell County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Campbell County ranks 808th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.

#808
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Campbell County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Campbell County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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 Campbell County

The parts of Campbell 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.

#1

Alexandria

It is quieter, crime runs lower, and local pay stretches further.

WorseBetter
68th nationally
#2

Fort Thomas & Highland Heights

More households have young kids and schools score higher.

WorseBetter
62nd nationally
#3

Cold Spring

Prices have run up more and streets are more car-dependent.

WorseBetter
58th nationally
#4

Dayton

Tree cover is thicker.

WorseBetter
56th nationally
#5

Newport & Bellevue

Biking is better, though fewer residents vote.

WorseBetter
47th nationally
#6

Southgate & Wilder

Incomes run lower and health care is harder to reach.

WorseBetter
27th nationally

Campbell County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 8%. Pick the area first, then the home.


Campbell County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%Transit
Top 10%An educated workforce
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Campbell County with other counties.

Where Campbell County ranks high

  • TransitBetter than 95% of counties
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of counties
  • BikingBetter than 89% of counties
  • Low vacancyBetter than 87% of counties
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of counties

Where Campbell County ranks low

  • QuietBetter than only 9% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of counties
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of counties
  • Low property taxBetter than only 26% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$866 a month, better than only 32% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Campbell County

A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Campbell County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,122, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$70,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,640
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $259,138 home
Median rent
$1,175
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,321
Property tax$233
Homeowners insurance$86

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 Campbell County's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Campbell County

Campbell County's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
40
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
18%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3423%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6419%
65 and older18%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Campbell County.


Who works in Campbell County, and how

Work in Campbell County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
17%
about the national average
Unemployment
3.9%
below the national average
Job growth
+4.4%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social15%
Manufacturing10%
Education10%
Retail trade9%
Professional & technical9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 78%
  • Work from home 17%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in Campbell County

Campbell County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of counties and more parkland per resident than 76% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Campbell County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
2,529
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 271.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 95% of counties
Coffee shops
263
about 28.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 94% of counties
Parkland
689 acres
about 7.4 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 76% of counties
Open past 10pm
~134
food and drink venues open late, about 14.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 93% of counties
Living on campus
1,094
students living in college or university housing

Is Campbell County growing, and who is moving in?

Campbell County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Cincinnati, OH metro.

Population growth
+2%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
94,008
up from 91,971
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

The rest of the Cincinnati, OH metro4,572 / yr
Louisville, KY406 / yr
Lexington, KY218 / yr
Owensboro, KY109 / yr
Washington, DC72 / yr

Where people leaving Campbell County go

The rest of the Cincinnati, OH metro3,361 / yr
Lexington, KY260 / yr
Madison County, KY166 / yr
Homosassa Springs, FL155 / yr
Louisville, KY145 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Campbell County, month by month

Campbell County sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January44°33°23°
April69°54°41°
July89°76°65°
October72°57°45°

Flying in and out of Campbell County

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 12 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
CVG
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 12 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
50th-busiest in the US, 99 nonstop destinations
Average drive
18 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Campbell County

Schools across Campbell County average a C+, better than 49% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Campbell County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Campbell 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 Campbell County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Campbell County suits

Families

Schools land around the 49th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 17% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 79%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Campbell County

Is Campbell County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Campbell County ranks 808th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, an educated workforce, and biking, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Campbell County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $259,138. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $87,122 median income, cost of living beats 86% of counties.

Is Campbell County safe?

Campbell County is safer than 40% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $337 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Campbell County?

July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 23. That works out to about 63 pleasant days a year, more than 10% of counties.

What are the best neighborhoods in Campbell County?

Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Alexandria, Fort Thomas & Highland Heights, and Cold Spring. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.


Compare Campbell County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Campbell County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Campbell 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.

Campbell County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Campbell County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Campbell County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Campbell County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Campbell County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Campbell County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.