Best PlacesIdle Hour, Lexington, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Idle Hour, Lexington, 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.
Idle Hour, Lexington ranks 3,860th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Idle Hour, Lexington
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.
Idle Hour, Lexington's strengths and weaknesses
Where Idle Hour, Lexington ranks high
- Cheap childcare$797 a month, better than 89% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 85% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than 67% of neighborhoods
Where Idle Hour, Lexington ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 53 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 24% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 26% of neighborhoods
- Household income$62,059 median, better than only 30% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Idle Hour, Lexington
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Idle Hour, Lexington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,059, 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 Idle Hour, Lexington's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Idle Hour, Lexington
Idle Hour, Lexington runs younger 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 Idle Hour, Lexington.
Who works in Idle Hour, Lexington, and how
Work in Idle Hour, Lexington centers on retail trade and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Idle Hour, Lexington
Idle Hour, Lexington has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of Idle Hour, Lexington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Idle Hour, Lexington, month by month
Idle Hour, Lexington sees roughly 53 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Idle Hour, Lexington
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Idle Hour, Lexington
Schools across Idle Hour, Lexington average a C−, better than 31% of neighborhoods.
Top middle schools
- Edythe Jones Hayes Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Morton Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Crawford Middle SchoolD− · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Idle Hour, Lexington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Idle Hour, Lexington 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 Idle Hour, Lexington against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Idle Hour, Lexington
Is Idle Hour, Lexington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Idle Hour, Lexington ranks 3,860th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on affordable childcare, cell coverage, and fast internet, and lowest on the weather and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Idle Hour, Lexington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,718. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $62,059 median income, cost of living beats 42% of neighborhoods.
Is Idle Hour, Lexington safe?
Idle Hour, Lexington is safer than 26% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $571 per resident a year.
Compare Idle Hour, Lexington with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Idle Hour, Lexington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Idle Hour, Lexington 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.
Idle Hour, Lexington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Idle Hour, Lexington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Idle Hour, Lexington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Idle Hour, Lexington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Idle Hour, Lexington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Idle Hour, Lexington 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.