Best PlacesCarthage, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carthage, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Carthage ranks 17,294th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on heat safety, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carthage
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.
Carthage's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carthage ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 82% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Carthage ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
- Short commute33.7 minutes each way, better than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 32% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 74 pleasant days a year, better than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carthage
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carthage home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,135, 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 Carthage's effective rate of 0.81%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carthage
Carthage runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carthage.
Who works in Carthage, and how
Work in Carthage centers on education and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Carthage
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carthage.
What the weather is like in Carthage, month by month
Carthage sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 33° | 27° |
| April | 66° | 55° | 46° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Carthage
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 20 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 Carthage
Schools across Carthage average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Campbell Ridge ElementaryC+ · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Campbell County Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Campbell County High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carthage school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carthage 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 Carthage against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carthage
Is Carthage a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carthage ranks 17,294th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, civic engagement, and few empty homes, and lowest on car insurance costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carthage expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $308,141. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $88,135 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Carthage safe?
Carthage is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $295 per resident a year.
Compare Carthage with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carthage. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carthage 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.
Carthage detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carthage: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carthage: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carthage: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carthage: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carthage 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.