Best PlacesParkers Lake, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Parkers Lake, 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.
Parkers Lake ranks 49,878th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Parkers Lake
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.
Parkers Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Parkers Lake ranks high
- Cheap childcare$439 a month, better than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
Where Parkers Lake ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$37,082 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute40.3 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Parkers Lake
A household needs to earn about $18,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Parkers Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $37,082, 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 Parkers Lake's effective rate of 0.46%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Parkers Lake
Parkers Lake runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Parkers Lake.
Who works in Parkers Lake, and how
Work in Parkers Lake centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Parkers Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Parkers Lake.
What the weather is like in Parkers Lake, month by month
Parkers Lake sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Parkers Lake
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 77 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Parkers Lake
Schools across Parkers Lake average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Whitley City Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mccreary County Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Mccreary Central High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Parkers Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Parkers Lake 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 Parkers Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Parkers Lake
Is Parkers Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Parkers Lake ranks 49,878th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on thin health care access and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Parkers Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $72,240. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $37,082 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Parkers Lake safe?
Parkers Lake is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $405 per resident a year.
Compare Parkers Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Parkers Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Parkers Lake 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.
Parkers Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Parkers Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Parkers Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Parkers Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Parkers Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Parkers Lake 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.