Best PlacesPaintsville, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paintsville, 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.
Paintsville ranks 41,411th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Paintsville
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.
Paintsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Paintsville ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute19.6 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 80% of towns
Where Paintsville ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Household income$49,693 median, better than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Paintsville
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paintsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,693, 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 Paintsville's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Paintsville
Paintsville 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 Paintsville.
Who works in Paintsville, and how
Work in Paintsville centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Paintsville
Paintsville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Paintsville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Paintsville, month by month
Paintsville sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Paintsville
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 132 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paintsville
Schools across Paintsville average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Paintsville Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Highland Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Flat Gap Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Johnson County Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Paintsville High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Johnson Central High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paintsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paintsville 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 Paintsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Paintsville
Is Paintsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paintsville ranks 41,411th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on thin health care access and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Paintsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $131,942. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $49,693 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Paintsville safe?
Paintsville is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $366 per resident a year.
Compare Paintsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paintsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paintsville 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.
Paintsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paintsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paintsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paintsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paintsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paintsville 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.