Best PlacesClay Center, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clay Center, 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.
Clay Center ranks 17,098th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Clay Center
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.
Clay Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clay Center ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 88% of towns
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
Where Clay Center ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clay Center
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clay Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,504, 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 Clay Center's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Clay Center
Clay Center runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clay Center.
Who works in Clay Center, and how
Work in Clay Center centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Clay Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Clay Center.
What the weather is like in Clay Center, month by month
Clay Center sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Clay Center
The nearest airport, Central Nebraska Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 125 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clay Center
Schools across Clay Center average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pike Valley ElemA− · 60% proficient
- Doniphan-trumbull ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Blue Hill Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pike Valley Jr HighD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Blue Hill High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Sutton Secondary SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Doniphan-trumbull SecondaryB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clay Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clay Center 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 Clay Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clay Center
Is Clay Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clay Center ranks 17,098th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, walkability, and biking, and lowest on crime and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clay Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $142,961. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $82,504 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Clay Center safe?
Clay Center is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $554 per resident a year.
Compare Clay Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clay Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clay Center 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.
Clay Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clay Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clay Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clay Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clay Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clay Center 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.