Best PlacesDry Ridge, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dry Ridge, 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.
Dry Ridge ranks 40,463rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on few empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in Dry Ridge
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.
Dry Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dry Ridge ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 76% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 72% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 71% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
Where Dry Ridge ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 53 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dry Ridge
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dry Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,526, 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 Dry Ridge's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dry Ridge
Dry Ridge runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dry Ridge.
Who works in Dry Ridge, and how
Work in Dry Ridge centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Dry Ridge
Dry Ridge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Dry Ridge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dry Ridge, month by month
Dry Ridge sees roughly 53 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Dry Ridge
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 24 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Dry Ridge
Schools across Dry Ridge average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northern Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Dry Ridge ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Crittenden-mt. Zion ElementaryC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Grant County Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Phillip Sharp Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Grant County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Pendleton County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dry Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dry Ridge 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 Dry Ridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dry Ridge
Is Dry Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dry Ridge ranks 40,463rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, fast internet, and walkability, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dry Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $222,385. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $58,526 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Dry Ridge safe?
Dry Ridge is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Dry Ridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dry Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dry Ridge 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.
Dry Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dry Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dry Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dry Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dry Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dry Ridge 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.