Best PlacesDerby, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Derby, 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.
Derby ranks 30,692nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Derby
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.
Derby's strengths and weaknesses
Where Derby ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 79% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 75% of towns
Where Derby ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 48 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Household income$50,896 median, better than only 13% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Derby
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Derby home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,896, 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 Derby's effective rate of 0.54%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Derby
Derby runs older 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 Derby.
Who works in Derby, and how
Work in Derby centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Derby
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Derby.
What the weather is like in Derby, month by month
Derby sees roughly 48 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Derby
The nearest airport, Owensboro/Daviess County Regional, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Derby
Schools across Derby average a B+, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Perry Central Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- William Tell Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Tell City Jr-sr High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Perry Central Jr-sr High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Derby school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Derby 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 Derby against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Derby
Is Derby a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Derby ranks 30,692nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, tree cover, and state infrastructure, and lowest on the weather and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Derby expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,856. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $50,896 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Derby safe?
Yes, Derby is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
Compare Derby with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Derby. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Derby 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.
Derby detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Derby: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Derby: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Derby: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Derby: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Derby 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.