Best PlacesEastern, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Eastern, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Eastern ranks 29,387th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Eastern
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.
Eastern's strengths and weaknesses
Where Eastern ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 78% of towns
Where Eastern ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Eastern
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Eastern home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,775, 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 Eastern's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Eastern
Eastern runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Eastern.
Who works in Eastern, and how
Work in Eastern centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Eastern
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Eastern.
What the weather is like in Eastern, month by month
Eastern sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Eastern
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Eastern
Schools across Eastern average a D+, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Duff-allen Central ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Floyd Central High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Eastern school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Eastern 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 Eastern against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Eastern
Is Eastern a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Eastern ranks 29,387th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on health outcomes 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 Eastern expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $117,000. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $72,775 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Eastern safe?
Eastern is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $288 per resident a year.
Compare Eastern with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Eastern. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Eastern 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.
Eastern detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Eastern: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Eastern: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Eastern: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Eastern: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Eastern 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.