Best PlacesEllen, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ellen, 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.
Ellen ranks 42,428th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ellen
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.
Ellen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ellen ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 79% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 77% of towns
Where Ellen ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ellen
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ellen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,577, 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 Ellen's effective rate of 0.50%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Ellen
Ellen 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 Ellen.
Who works in Ellen, and how
Work in Ellen centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ellen
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ellen.
What the weather is like in Ellen, month by month
Ellen sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Ellen
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 126 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ellen
Schools across Ellen average a D+, better than 21% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blaine Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Louisa Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Lawrence County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ellen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ellen 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 Ellen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ellen
Is Ellen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ellen ranks 42,428th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, affordable childcare, and quiet, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ellen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $128,400. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $55,577 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Ellen safe?
Ellen is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
Compare Ellen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ellen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ellen 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.
Ellen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ellen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ellen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ellen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ellen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ellen 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.