Best PlacesOwensboro, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Owensboro metro, 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.
Photo by Smallbones, via wiki
Owensboro ranks 303rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on affordable childcare and short commutes. The weaker spots are health outcomes, the weather, and transit.
The best neighborhoods in the Owensboro metro
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.
The best areas in Owensboro
The towns and districts of the Owensboro metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Whitesville
More households have young kids, prices have run up less, and it is quieter.
Philpot
Fewer homes sit empty and more adults hold degrees.
Downtown Owensboro
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Calhoun
Homes cost less, though commutes are longer.
Owensboro shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 8%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Owensboro's strengths and weaknesses
Owensboro ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Affordable childcare, short commutes, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: health outcomes, the weather, and transit all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Owensboro ranks high
- Cheap childcare$577 a month, better than 95% of metro areas
- Short commute20.2 minutes each way, better than 83% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 69% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 67% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 64% of metro areas
Where Owensboro ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- School gradeC, better than only 17% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Owensboro
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Owensboro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,937, 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 Owensboro's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Owensboro
Owensboro'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 Owensboro.
Who works in Owensboro, and how
Work in Owensboro centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Owensboro
Owensboro has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Owensboro and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Owensboro growing, and who is moving in?
Owensboro has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Louisville, KY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Owensboro go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Owensboro, month by month
Owensboro sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Owensboro
The nearest airport, Owensboro/Daviess County Regional, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Owensboro
Schools across Owensboro average a C, better than 17% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Spottsville Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Calhoun Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Highland Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Daviess County Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Henderson County North Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Owensboro Innovation Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Daviess County High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Henderson County High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Mclean County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Owensboro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Owensboro 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 Owensboro against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Owensboro suits
Common questions about living in Owensboro
Is Owensboro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Owensboro ranks 303rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and few empty homes, and lowest on health outcomes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Owensboro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $199,735. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $70,937 median income, cost of living beats 47% of metro areas.
Is Owensboro safe?
Owensboro is safer than 45% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $330 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Owensboro?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 28. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 10% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Owensboro?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Whitesville, Philpot, and Downtown Owensboro. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Owensboro good for families?
Schools beat 17% of metro areas, crime safety beats 45%, and childcare runs $577 a month.
Is Owensboro good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 47% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 52% of metro areas. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Owensboro with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Owensboro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Owensboro 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.
Owensboro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Owensboro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Owensboro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Owensboro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Owensboro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Owensboro 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.