Best PlacesGuide Rock, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Guide Rock, 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.
Guide Rock ranks 32,479th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Guide Rock
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.
Guide Rock's strengths and weaknesses
Where Guide Rock ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 104 pleasant days a year, better than 71% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 70% of towns
Where Guide Rock ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Guide Rock
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Guide Rock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,148, 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 Guide Rock's effective rate of 1.21%, 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 Guide Rock
Guide Rock 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 Guide Rock.
Who works in Guide Rock, and how
Work in Guide Rock centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Guide Rock
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Guide Rock.
What the weather is like in Guide Rock, month by month
Guide Rock sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Guide Rock
The nearest airport, Kearney Regional, is about 57 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 153 miles away.
The best schools in and around Guide Rock
Schools across Guide Rock average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blue Hill Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Rock Hills Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Red Cloud Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pike Valley Jr HighD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Blue Hill High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Red Cloud High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Superior Sr High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Guide Rock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Guide Rock 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 Guide Rock against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Guide Rock
Is Guide Rock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Guide Rock ranks 32,479th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a stable housing market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Guide Rock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $83,996. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $65,148 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Guide Rock safe?
Guide Rock is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $339 per resident a year.
Compare Guide Rock with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Guide Rock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Guide Rock 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.
Guide Rock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Guide Rock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Guide Rock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Guide Rock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Guide Rock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Guide Rock 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.