Best PlacesGarrard County, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Garrard County, 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.
Garrard County ranks 2,386th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a strong job market.
The best neighborhoods in Garrard County
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.
Garrard County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garrard County ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 81% of counties
- QuietBetter than 81% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 77% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 70% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 68% of counties
Where Garrard County ranks low
- Short commute33.1 minutes each way, better than only 7% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 13% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Garrard County
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garrard County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,777, 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 Garrard County's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Garrard County
Garrard County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Garrard County.
Who works in Garrard County, and how
Work in Garrard County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Garrard County
Garrard County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Garrard County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Garrard County growing, and who is moving in?
Garrard County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Lexington, KY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Garrard County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Garrard County, month by month
Garrard County sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 70° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Garrard County
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garrard County
Schools across Garrard County average a C−, better than 22% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Camp Dick Robinson Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Lancaster Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Paint Lick Elementary SchoolC− · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Garrard Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Garrard County High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garrard County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garrard County 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 Garrard County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Garrard County
Is Garrard County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garrard County ranks 2,386th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on a strong job market, quiet, and few empty homes, and lowest on long commutes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garrard County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,519. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $62,777 median income, cost of living beats 41% of counties.
Is Garrard County safe?
Garrard County is safer than 54% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $287 per resident a year.
Compare Garrard County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garrard County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garrard County 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.
Garrard County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garrard County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garrard County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garrard County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garrard County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garrard County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.