Best PlacesKeystone, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Keystone, 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.
Keystone ranks 35,799th 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 Keystone
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.
Keystone's strengths and weaknesses
Where Keystone ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute16.2 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 80% of towns
Where Keystone ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Keystone
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Keystone home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $61,598; 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 Keystone's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 Keystone
Keystone 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 Keystone.
Who works in Keystone, and how
Work in Keystone centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Keystone
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Keystone.
What the weather is like in Keystone, month by month
Keystone sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 26° | 13° |
| April | 68° | 49° | 32° |
| July | 93° | 76° | 61° |
| October | 70° | 50° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Keystone
The nearest airport, North Platte Regional/Lee Bird Field, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 190 miles away.
The best schools in and around Keystone
Schools across Keystone average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Arthur County Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Paxton Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Prairie View SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Arthur County High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Mc Pherson County Secondary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Ogallala High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Keystone school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Keystone 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 Keystone against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Keystone
Is Keystone a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Keystone ranks 35,799th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Keystone expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,833. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $61,598 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Keystone safe?
Keystone is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $364 per resident a year.
Compare Keystone with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Keystone. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Keystone 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.
Keystone detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Keystone: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Keystone: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Keystone: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Keystone: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Keystone 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.