Best PlacesDefries, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Defries, 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.
Defries ranks 46,116th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on few empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in Defries
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.
Defries' strengths and weaknesses
Where Defries ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap childcare$635 a month, better than 75% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
- QuietBetter than 64% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 61% of towns
Where Defries ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Defries
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Defries home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,760, 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 Defries' effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Defries
Defries runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Defries.
Who works in Defries, and how
Work in Defries centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Defries
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Defries.
What the weather is like in Defries, month by month
Defries sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, 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 | 48° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 90° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Defries
The nearest airport, Louisville Muhammad Ali International, is about 63 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Defries
Schools across Defries average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Green County Intermediate SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Memorial Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Green County Middle SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Green County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Hart County High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Defries school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Defries 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 Defries against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Defries
Is Defries a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Defries ranks 46,116th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, affordable childcare, and low taxes, and lowest on a weak job market and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Defries expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $96,438. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $51,760 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Defries safe?
Defries is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $304 per resident a year.
Compare Defries with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Defries. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Defries 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.
Defries detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Defries: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Defries: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Defries: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Defries: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Defries 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.