Best PlacesLetcher County, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Letcher County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Letcher County ranks 2,961st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Letcher County
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.
Letcher County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Letcher County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 99% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 84% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 79% of counties
Where Letcher County ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of counties
- Household income$46,121 median, better than only 4% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Letcher County
A household needs to earn about $19,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Letcher County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $46,121, 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 Letcher County's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Letcher County
Letcher County 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 Letcher County.
Who works in Letcher County, and how
Work in Letcher County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Letcher County
Letcher County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Letcher County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Letcher County growing, and who is moving in?
Letcher County has lost about 14% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Harlan County, KY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Letcher County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Letcher County, month by month
Letcher County sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 45° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Letcher County
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 166 miles away.
The best schools in and around Letcher County
Schools across Letcher County average a D+, better than 15% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Carr Creek Elementary SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Viper Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Cowan Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whitesburg Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Fleming Neon Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Letcher County Central High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Harlan County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Letcher County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Letcher County 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 Letcher County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Letcher County suits
Common questions about living in Letcher County
Is Letcher County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Letcher County ranks 2,961st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, heat safety, and a stable housing market, and lowest on health outcomes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Letcher County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $75,733. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $46,121 median income, cost of living beats 7% of counties.
Is Letcher County safe?
Letcher County is safer than 25% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $383 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Letcher County?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 28. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of counties.
Is Letcher County good for families?
Schools beat 15% of counties, crime safety beats 25%, and childcare runs $545 a month.
Compare Letcher County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Letcher County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Letcher County 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.
Letcher County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Letcher County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Letcher County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Letcher County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Letcher County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Letcher County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.