Best PlacesLa Center, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around La Center, 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.
La Center ranks 29,977th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in La Center
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.
La Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where La Center ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap childcare$591 a month, better than 79% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 70% of towns
Where La Center ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 13% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in La Center
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,798, 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 La Center's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 La Center
La Center 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 La Center.
Who works in La Center, and how
Work in La Center centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in La Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across La Center.
What the weather is like in La Center, month by month
La Center sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 61° | 48° |
Flying in and out of La Center
The nearest airport, Barkley Regional, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around La Center
Schools across La Center average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ballard County Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ballard County Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Ballard Memorial High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every La Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
La Center 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 La Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in La Center
Is La Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Center ranks 29,977th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and affordable childcare, and lowest on the weather and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is La Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $137,824. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $64,798 median income, cost of living beats 55% of towns.
Is La Center safe?
La Center is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $259 per resident a year.
Compare La Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Center 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.
La Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Center 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.