Best PlacesKilkenny, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kilkenny, 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.
Kilkenny ranks 8,717th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kilkenny
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.
Kilkenny's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kilkenny ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
Where Kilkenny ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 30% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 34% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 36% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 41% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kilkenny
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kilkenny home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,122, 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 Kilkenny's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 Kilkenny
Kilkenny runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kilkenny.
Who works in Kilkenny, and how
Work in Kilkenny centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kilkenny
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kilkenny.
What the weather is like in Kilkenny, month by month
Kilkenny sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Kilkenny
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 43 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Kilkenny
Schools across Kilkenny average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waterville ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Lonsdale Pre K-6B · 47% proficient
- Montgomery Pre K-8B− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Morristown ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Waterville-elysian-morristown Jr.C · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Waterville-elysian-morristown Sr.B− · 45% proficient
- Tri-city United High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Faribault Senior HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kilkenny school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kilkenny 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 Kilkenny against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kilkenny
Is Kilkenny a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kilkenny ranks 8,717th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low crime, and fast internet, and lowest on taxes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kilkenny expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $355,150. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $93,122 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Kilkenny safe?
Yes, Kilkenny is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $189 per resident a year.
Compare Kilkenny with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kilkenny. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kilkenny 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.
Kilkenny detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kilkenny: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kilkenny: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kilkenny: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kilkenny: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kilkenny 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.