Best PlacesKeene, NE 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. 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.
Keene ranks 13,152nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and tree cover 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
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute18.8 minutes each way, better than 91% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Keene ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 16% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Keene
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Keene home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,431, 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 Keene's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 younger than the country.
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 agriculture & forestry 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 61%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
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 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 66° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Keene
The nearest airport, Kearney Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 175 miles away.
The best schools in and around Keene
Schools across Keene average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Minden East Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Axtell Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Wilcox-hildreth Upper ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- C L Jones Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Minden High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Axtell High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Wilcox-hildreth Jr/sr High SchoolC+ · 35% 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 13,152nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and civic engagement, and lowest on tree cover 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 Keene expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,531. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $83,431 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Keene safe?
Keene is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $329 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.