Best PlacesCarrollton, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carrollton, 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.
Carrollton ranks 38,877th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on short commutes.
The best neighborhoods in Carrollton
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.
Carrollton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carrollton ranks high
- Short commute19.8 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of towns
- BikingBetter than 79% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
Where Carrollton ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 51 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carrollton
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carrollton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,724, 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 Carrollton's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carrollton
Carrollton runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carrollton.
Who works in Carrollton, and how
Work in Carrollton centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Carrollton
Carrollton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Carrollton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carrollton, month by month
Carrollton sees roughly 51 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Carrollton
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 37 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Carrollton
Schools across Carrollton average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bedford Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
- Cartmell ElementaryD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carroll County Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Trimble County Jr/sr High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Carroll County High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carrollton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carrollton 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 Carrollton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carrollton
Is Carrollton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carrollton ranks 38,877th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on the weather 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 Carrollton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $153,336. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $59,724 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Carrollton safe?
Carrollton is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $329 per resident a year.
Compare Carrollton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carrollton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carrollton 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.
Carrollton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carrollton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carrollton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carrollton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carrollton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carrollton 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.