Best PlacesKeene, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Keene, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Keene ranks 1,523rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Keene
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.
Keene's strengths and weaknesses
Where Keene ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$180,605 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
Where Keene ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 53 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 40% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 41% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Keene
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Keene home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $180,605; 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 Keene'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 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 Keene
Keene runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Keene.
Who works in Keene, and how
Work in Keene centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Keene
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Keene.
What the weather is like in Keene, month by month
Keene 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 Keene
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Keene
Schools across Keene average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mercer County Intermediate SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Jessamine Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Kenneth D. King Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- West Jessamine High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Mercer County Senior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Keene school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Keene 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 Keene against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Keene
Is Keene a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Keene ranks 1,523rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on the weather and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Keene expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $745,950. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $180,605 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Keene safe?
Yes, Keene is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $219 per resident a year.
Compare Keene with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Keene. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Keene 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.
Keene detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Keene: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Keene: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Keene: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Keene: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Keene 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.