Best PlacesPaducah, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Paducah metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via wiki
Paducah ranks 343rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on health outcomes and the weather. It does better on affordable childcare, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Paducah 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 Paducah
The towns and districts of the Paducah 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.
Massac & Hendron
Local pay stretches further, fewer homes sit empty, and more adults hold degrees.
Reidland & Farley
Tree cover is thicker, though it is noisier.
Downtown Paducah
Biking is better, though crime runs higher.
Kevil
Prices have run up less.
Metropolis
Advertised internet is faster, though fewer households have young kids.
Scores across Paducah run from about the 2nd to the 78th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Paducah's strengths and weaknesses
Paducah ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Affordable childcare is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Short commutes and a stable housing market follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: health outcomes, the weather, and empty homes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Paducah ranks high
- Cheap childcare$549 a month, better than 98% of metro areas
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 86% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 62% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 62% of metro areas
Where Paducah ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 10% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Paducah
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paducah home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,872, 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 Paducah'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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Paducah
Paducah runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Paducah.
Who works in Paducah, and how
Work in Paducah centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Paducah
Paducah has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 83% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Paducah and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Paducah growing, and who is moving in?
Paducah has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Marshall County, KY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Paducah go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Paducah, month by month
Paducah sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 61° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Paducah
The nearest airport, Barkley Regional, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paducah
Schools across Paducah average a C, better than 22% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Symsonia Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Concord Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Lone Oak Intermediate SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Heath Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Lone Oak Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Graves County Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Mccracken County High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Graves County High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Paducah Tilghman High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paducah school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paducah 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 Paducah against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Paducah suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Paducah
Is Paducah a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paducah ranks 343rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and a stable housing market, 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 Paducah expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,452. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $66,872 median income, cost of living beats 39% of metro areas.
Is Paducah safe?
Paducah is safer than 54% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Paducah?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 28. That works out to about 60 pleasant days a year, more than 4% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Paducah?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Massac & Hendron, Reidland & Farley, and Downtown Paducah. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Paducah good for families?
Schools beat 22% of metro areas, crime safety beats 54%, and childcare runs $549 a month.
Is Paducah good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 39% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 29% of metro areas. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Paducah with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paducah. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paducah 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.
Paducah detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paducah: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paducah: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paducah: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paducah: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paducah 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.