Best PlacesGarrard, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garrard, 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.
Garrard ranks 49,321st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Garrard
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garrard ranks high
- Cheap childcare$487 a month, better than 93% of towns
- Short commute21.2 minutes each way, better than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of towns
Where Garrard ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$29,192 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garrard
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garrard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $29,192, so buying stretches a typical household.
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's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 7 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
Garrard'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.
Who works in Garrard, and how
Work in Garrard centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Garrard
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garrard.
What the weather is like in Garrard, month by month
Garrard sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Garrard
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 79 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garrard
Schools across Garrard average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Big Creek ElementaryD+ · 24% proficient
- Paces Creek ElementaryD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clay County Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Clay County High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garrard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garrard 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garrard
Is Garrard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garrard ranks 49,321st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and tree cover, and lowest on thin health care access and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garrard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,600. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $29,192 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Garrard safe?
Garrard is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $514 per resident a year.
Compare Garrard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garrard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garrard 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garrard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garrard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garrard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garrard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garrard 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.