Best PlacesCranston, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cranston, 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.
Cranston ranks 39,275th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cranston
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.
Cranston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cranston ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$517 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
Where Cranston ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$51,392 median, better than only 14% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 15% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cranston
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cranston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,392, 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 Cranston's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cranston
Cranston runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cranston.
Who works in Cranston, and how
Work in Cranston centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 21%
Life in Cranston
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cranston.
What the weather is like in Cranston, month by month
Cranston sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Cranston
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 89 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cranston
Schools across Cranston average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tilden Hogge Elementary SchoolC · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rowan County Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Rowan County Senior High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cranston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cranston 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 Cranston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cranston
Is Cranston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cranston ranks 39,275th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, heat safety, and tree cover, and lowest on noise and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cranston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,500. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $51,392 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Cranston safe?
Cranston is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $404 per resident a year.
Compare Cranston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cranston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cranston 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.
Cranston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cranston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cranston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cranston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cranston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cranston 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.