Best PlacesDawson Springs, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dawson Springs, 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.
Dawson Springs ranks 46,921st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Dawson Springs
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.
Dawson Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Dawson Springs ranks high
- Cheap childcare$561 a month, better than 86% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 75% of towns
- BikingBetter than 72% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
Where Dawson Springs ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dawson Springs
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dawson Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,105, 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 Dawson Springs' effective rate of 0.65%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dawson Springs
Dawson Springs runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dawson Springs.
Who works in Dawson Springs, and how
Work in Dawson Springs centers on manufacturing and health care & social. 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 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Dawson Springs
Dawson Springs has more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Dawson Springs and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dawson Springs, month by month
Dawson Springs sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 50° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Dawson Springs
The nearest airport, Owensboro/Daviess County Regional, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 92 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dawson Springs
Schools across Dawson Springs average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sinking Fork Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Earlington Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Southside Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Caldwell County Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Christian County Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- South Hopkins Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Caldwell County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Dawson Springs Jr/sr High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Christian County High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dawson Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dawson Springs 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 Dawson Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dawson Springs
Is Dawson Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dawson Springs ranks 46,921st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and a stable housing market, and lowest on a weak job market and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dawson Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $103,193. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $55,105 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Dawson Springs safe?
Dawson Springs is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $387 per resident a year.
Compare Dawson Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dawson Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dawson Springs 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.
Dawson Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dawson Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dawson Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dawson Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dawson Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dawson Springs 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.