Best PlacesGray Hawk, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gray Hawk, 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.
Gray Hawk ranks 48,963rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gray Hawk
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.
Gray Hawk's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gray Hawk ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$487 a month, better than 93% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 81% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 71% of towns
Where Gray Hawk ranks low
- Short commute49.8 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,815 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gray Hawk
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gray Hawk home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $40,815; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Gray Hawk's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Gray Hawk
Gray Hawk 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 Gray Hawk.
Who works in Gray Hawk, and how
Work in Gray Hawk centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Gray Hawk
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gray Hawk.
What the weather is like in Gray Hawk, month by month
Gray Hawk sees roughly 65 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 Gray Hawk
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 121 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gray Hawk
Schools across Gray Hawk average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mckee Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Tyner Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jackson County Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Jackson County High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gray Hawk school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gray Hawk 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 Gray Hawk against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gray Hawk
Is Gray Hawk a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gray Hawk ranks 48,963rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, affordable childcare, and tree cover, and lowest on long commutes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gray Hawk expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,700. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $40,815 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Gray Hawk safe?
Gray Hawk is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $388 per resident a year.
Compare Gray Hawk with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gray Hawk. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gray Hawk 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.
Gray Hawk detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gray Hawk: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gray Hawk: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gray Hawk: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gray Hawk: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gray Hawk 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.