Best PlacesMorehead, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Morehead, 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.
Morehead ranks 35,297th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Morehead
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.
Morehead's strengths and weaknesses
Where Morehead ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap childcare$518 a month, better than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 78% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 76% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of towns
Where Morehead ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$54,547 median, better than only 18% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 19% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Morehead
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morehead home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,547, 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 Morehead's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Morehead
Morehead 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 Morehead.
Who works in Morehead, and how
Work in Morehead centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Morehead
Morehead has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Morehead and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Morehead, month by month
Morehead sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Morehead
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Morehead
Schools across Morehead average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mcbrayer Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Tilden Hogge Elementary SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Crossroads Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rowan County Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Simons Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- West Carter Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Bath County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Rowan County Senior High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Fleming County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Morehead school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morehead 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 Morehead against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Morehead
Is Morehead a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morehead ranks 35,297th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, affordable childcare, and biking, and lowest on car insurance costs and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Morehead expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,944. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $54,547 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Morehead safe?
Morehead is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $348 per resident a year.
Compare Morehead with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morehead. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morehead 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.
Morehead detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morehead: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morehead: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morehead: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morehead: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morehead 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.