Best PlacesMorgantown, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Morgantown, 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.
Morgantown ranks 40,941st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Morgantown
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.
Morgantown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Morgantown ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 79% of towns
- BikingBetter than 74% of towns
- Cheap childcare$658 a month, better than 72% of towns
Where Morgantown ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Morgantown
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morgantown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,546, 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 Morgantown's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Morgantown
Morgantown's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Morgantown.
Who works in Morgantown, and how
Work in Morgantown centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Morgantown
Morgantown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Morgantown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Morgantown, month by month
Morgantown sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 31° |
| April | 72° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Morgantown
The nearest airport, Owensboro/Daviess County Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Morgantown
Schools across Morgantown average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jody Richards ElementaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Rockfield ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Horse Branch Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Warren Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Grayson County Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Butler County Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- South Warren High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Grayson County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Butler County High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Morgantown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morgantown 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 Morgantown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Morgantown
Is Morgantown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morgantown ranks 40,941st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, a stable housing market, and low property taxes, and lowest on education levels and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Morgantown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $121,739. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $56,546 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Morgantown safe?
Morgantown is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $377 per resident a year.
Compare Morgantown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morgantown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morgantown 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.
Morgantown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morgantown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morgantown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morgantown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morgantown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morgantown 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.