Best PlacesMadisonville, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Madisonville, 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.
Madisonville ranks 2,007th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Madisonville
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.
Madisonville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Madisonville ranks high
- Cheap childcare$562 a month, better than 97% of cities
- Short commute18.1 minutes each way, better than 93% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 74% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 70% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 65% of cities
Where Madisonville ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of cities
- Household income$58,832 median, better than only 7% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 7% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Madisonville
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Madisonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,832, 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 Madisonville's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Madisonville
Madisonville's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Madisonville.
Who works in Madisonville, and how
Work in Madisonville centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Madisonville
Madisonville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 97% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Madisonville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Madisonville, month by month
Madisonville sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 50° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Madisonville
The nearest airport, Owensboro/Daviess County Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 95 miles away.
The best schools in and around Madisonville
Schools across Madisonville average a C−, better than 20% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Pride Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Marie Gatton Phillips ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Earlington Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- James Madison Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Mclean County Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Muhlenberg North MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Mclean County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Madisonville North Hopkins High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Muhlenberg County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Madisonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Madisonville 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 Madisonville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Madisonville suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Madisonville
Is Madisonville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Madisonville ranks 2,007th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and tree cover, and lowest on health outcomes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Madisonville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $156,171. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $58,832 median income, cost of living beats 17% of cities.
Is Madisonville safe?
Madisonville is safer than 16% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $401 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Madisonville?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 30. That works out to about 67 pleasant days a year, more than 20% of cities.
Is Madisonville good for families?
Schools beat 20% of cities, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $562 a month.
Compare Madisonville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Madisonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Madisonville 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.
Madisonville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Madisonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Madisonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Madisonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Madisonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Madisonville 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.