Best PlacesNelsonville, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nelsonville, 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.
Nelsonville ranks 37,868th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on low crime, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Nelsonville
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.
Nelsonville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Nelsonville ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 72% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 61% of towns
Where Nelsonville ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Nelsonville
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nelsonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,195, 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 Nelsonville's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 Nelsonville
Nelsonville runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Nelsonville.
Who works in Nelsonville, and how
Work in Nelsonville centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Nelsonville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Nelsonville.
What the weather is like in Nelsonville, month by month
Nelsonville sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Nelsonville
The nearest airport, Louisville Muhammad Ali International, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 106 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nelsonville
Schools across Nelsonville average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln Trail Elementary SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Boston SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Abraham Lincoln Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Hardin Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Larue County Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Old Kentucky Home Middle SchoolD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Hardin High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Thomas Nelson High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Larue County High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nelsonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nelsonville 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 Nelsonville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Nelsonville
Is Nelsonville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nelsonville ranks 37,868th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, heat safety, and tree cover, and lowest on car insurance costs and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nelsonville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,641. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $59,195 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Nelsonville safe?
Yes, Nelsonville is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $188 per resident a year.
Compare Nelsonville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nelsonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nelsonville 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.
Nelsonville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nelsonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nelsonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nelsonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nelsonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nelsonville 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.