Best PlacesClay City, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clay City, 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 City ranks 45,259th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Thin health care access pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on fast internet.
The best neighborhoods in Clay City
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 City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clay City ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 81% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 76% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 76% of towns
Where Clay City ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 7% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Household income$50,441 median, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clay City
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clay City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,441, 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 City's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 6 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 City
Clay City's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clay City.
Who works in Clay City, and how
Work in Clay City centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Clay City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Clay City.
What the weather is like in Clay City, month by month
Clay City sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, 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 | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Clay City
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 91 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clay City
Schools across Clay City average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stanton Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
- Clay City Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Powell County Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Estill County Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Estill County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Powell County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clay City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clay City 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 City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clay City
Is Clay City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clay City ranks 45,259th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on thin health care access and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clay City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $146,942. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $50,441 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Clay City safe?
Clay City is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $289 per resident a year.
Compare Clay City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clay City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clay City 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 City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clay City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clay City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clay City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clay City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clay City 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.