Best PlacesEnsign, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ensign, 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.
Ensign ranks 34,033rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ensign
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.
Ensign's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ensign ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 79% of towns
Where Ensign ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ensign
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ensign home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,813, 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 Ensign's effective rate of 1.28%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ensign
Ensign 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 Ensign.
Who works in Ensign, and how
Work in Ensign centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Ensign
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ensign.
What the weather is like in Ensign, month by month
Ensign sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 31° | 19° |
| April | 73° | 54° | 39° |
| July | 95° | 80° | 66° |
| October | 76° | 57° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Ensign
The nearest airport, Dodge City Regional, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 285 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ensign
Schools across Ensign average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Montezuma ElemB+ · 52% proficient
- Cimarron ElemC+ · 37% proficient
- Fowler ElemC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Comanche Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Cimarron HighD · 20% proficient
- Fowler HighD · 19% proficient
- South Gray HighD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ensign school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ensign 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 Ensign against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ensign
Is Ensign a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ensign ranks 34,033rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ensign expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,421. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $71,813 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Ensign safe?
Ensign is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $459 per resident a year.
Compare Ensign with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ensign. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ensign 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.
Ensign detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ensign: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ensign: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ensign: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ensign: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ensign 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.