Best PlacesHorse Cave, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Horse Cave, 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.
Horse Cave ranks 44,694th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Horse Cave
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.
Horse Cave's strengths and weaknesses
Where Horse Cave ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute22.2 minutes each way, better than 79% of towns
- BikingBetter than 72% of towns
- Cheap childcare$659 a month, better than 72% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 71% of towns
Where Horse Cave ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 54 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Horse Cave
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Horse Cave home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,005, 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 Horse Cave's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Horse Cave
Horse Cave 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 Horse Cave.
Who works in Horse Cave, and how
Work in Horse Cave centers on manufacturing and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to 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 2%
Life in Horse Cave
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Horse Cave.
What the weather is like in Horse Cave, month by month
Horse Cave sees roughly 54 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, 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 | 48° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 90° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Horse Cave
The nearest airport, Louisville Muhammad Ali International, is about 69 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Horse Cave
Schools across Horse Cave average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Munfordville Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Hiseville Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Memorial Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barren County Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Metcalfe County Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Caverna Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Barren County High SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Hart County High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Caverna High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Horse Cave school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Horse Cave 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 Horse Cave against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Horse Cave
Is Horse Cave a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Horse Cave ranks 44,694th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, and biking, and lowest on the weather and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Horse Cave expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $149,927. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $48,005 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Horse Cave safe?
Horse Cave is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $310 per resident a year.
Compare Horse Cave with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Horse Cave. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Horse Cave 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.
Horse Cave detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Horse Cave: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Horse Cave: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Horse Cave: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Horse Cave: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Horse Cave 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.