Best PlacesNorton, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Norton, 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.
Norton ranks 29,627th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Norton
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.
Norton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Norton ranks high
- Short commute7.7 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 86% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 79% of towns
Where Norton ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 18% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Norton
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Norton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,052, 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 Norton's effective rate of 1.10%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Norton
Norton runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Norton.
Who works in Norton, and how
Work in Norton centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Norton
Norton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Norton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Norton, month by month
Norton sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 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 | 71° | 53° | 39° |
| July | 94° | 80° | 67° |
| October | 72° | 55° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Norton
The nearest airport, Hays Regional, is about 76 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 233 miles away.
The best schools in and around Norton
Schools across Norton average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eisenhower ElemC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Norton Jr HighD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Norton HighD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Norton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Norton 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 Norton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Norton
Is Norton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Norton ranks 29,627th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, walkability, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Norton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $107,719. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $62,052 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Norton safe?
Norton is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $454 per resident a year.
Compare Norton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Norton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Norton 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.
Norton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Norton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Norton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Norton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Norton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Norton 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.