Best PlacesLexington, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Lexington metro, 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.
Photo by Madgeek1450 at English Wikipedia, via commons
Lexington ranks 211th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on an educated workforce and fast internet. The weaker spots are the weather, car insurance costs, and the schools.
The best neighborhoods in the Lexington metro
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.
The best areas in Lexington
The towns and districts of the Lexington metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Versailles
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Georgetown
Crime runs lower, though biking is worse.
Nicholasville
More households have young kids, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Winchester
Scores close to Nicholasville, except that tree cover is thicker here.
Downtown Lexington
Streets are more walkable, though it is noisier.
Paris
Fewer adults hold degrees and health outcomes score lower.
Lexington shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Lexington's strengths and weaknesses
Lexington lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. An educated workforce, fast internet, and biking carry most of that.
The one real hole is the weather, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and the schools also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Lexington ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 85% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 82% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 79% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 78% of metro areas
Where Lexington ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of metro areas
- School gradeC, better than only 22% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 23% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 26% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Lexington
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lexington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,240, 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 Lexington's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lexington
Lexington runs younger 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 Lexington.
Who works in Lexington, and how
Work in Lexington centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Lexington
Lexington has more late-night spots per resident than 86% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Lexington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lexington growing, and who is moving in?
Lexington has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Louisville, KY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lexington go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lexington, month by month
Lexington sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Lexington
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lexington
Schools across Lexington average a C, better than 22% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Rosa Parks Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Athens-chilesburg ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Clays Mill Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Scapa At BluegrassA · 66% proficient
- Edythe Jones Hayes Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Beaumont Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Opportunity Middle CollegeA− · 60% proficient
- Paul Laurence Dunbar High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Lafayette High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lexington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lexington 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 Lexington against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Lexington suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lexington
Is Lexington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lexington ranks 211th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on an educated workforce, fast internet, and biking, and lowest on the weather and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lexington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $301,935. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $81,240 median income, cost of living beats 75% of metro areas.
Is Lexington safe?
Lexington is safer than 26% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $383 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lexington?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 26. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lexington?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Versailles, Georgetown, and Nicholasville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lexington good for families?
Schools beat 22% of metro areas, crime safety beats 26%, and childcare runs $804 a month.
Is Lexington good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 85% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lexington with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lexington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lexington 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.
Lexington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lexington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lexington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lexington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lexington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lexington 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.