Best PlacesNess County, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ness County, 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.
Ness County ranks 1,528th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ness County
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.
Ness County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ness County ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of counties
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 95% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 94% of counties
- Short commute15.6 minutes each way, better than 94% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of counties
Where Ness County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 13% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ness County
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ness County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,126, 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 Ness County's effective rate of 1.55%, 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 Ness County
Ness County runs older 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 Ness County.
Who works in Ness County, and how
Work in Ness County centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Ness County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ness County.
Is Ness County growing, and who is moving in?
Ness County has lost about 15% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Wichita, KS.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ness County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ness County, month by month
Ness County sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 70° | 53° | 40° |
| July | 93° | 79° | 66° |
| October | 72° | 55° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Ness County
The nearest airport, Hays Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 273 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ness County
Schools across Ness County average a D, better than 6% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- La Crosse ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Ness City ElemC · 32% proficient
- Western Plains North ElemD+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- La Crosse Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Western Plains HighD+ · 25% proficient
- La Crosse HighD · 20% proficient
- Ness City HighF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ness County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ness County 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 Ness County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Ness County
Is Ness County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ness County ranks 1,528th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on tree cover 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 Ness County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $103,028. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $75,126 median income, cost of living beats 90% of counties.
Is Ness County safe?
Ness County is safer than 27% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $445 per resident a year.
Compare Ness County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ness County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ness County 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.
Ness County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ness County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ness County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ness County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ness County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ness County 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.