Best PlacesGarner, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garner, 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.
Garner ranks 47,542nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Garner
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.
Garner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garner ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 88% of towns
- Short commute21.2 minutes each way, better than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 77% of towns
Where Garner ranks low
- Household income$39,863 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garner
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $39,863, 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 Garner's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Garner
Garner 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 Garner.
Who works in Garner, and how
Work in Garner centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Garner
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garner.
What the weather is like in Garner, month by month
Garner sees roughly 86 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 Garner
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 67 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 150 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garner
Schools across Garner average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jones Fork Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Knott County Central High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garner 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 Garner against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garner
Is Garner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garner ranks 47,542nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and short commutes, and lowest on low incomes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $90,906. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $39,863 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Garner safe?
Garner is safer than 27% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
Compare Garner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garner 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.
Garner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garner 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.