Best PlacesPrentiss, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prentiss, 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.
Prentiss ranks 41,989th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Thin health care access pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Prentiss
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.
Prentiss' strengths and weaknesses
Where Prentiss ranks high
- Cheap childcare$660 a month, better than 71% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 68% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
- QuietBetter than 64% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 64% of towns
Where Prentiss ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of towns
- Household income$51,518 median, better than only 14% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prentiss
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prentiss home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,518, 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 Prentiss' effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Prentiss
Prentiss runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Prentiss.
Who works in Prentiss, and how
Work in Prentiss centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 98%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 0%
Life in Prentiss
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Prentiss.
What the weather is like in Prentiss, month by month
Prentiss sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 50° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Prentiss
The nearest airport, Owensboro/Daviess County Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Prentiss
Schools across Prentiss average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southern Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Morgantown Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ohio County Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Butler County Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Ohio County High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Butler County High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prentiss school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prentiss 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 Prentiss against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prentiss
Is Prentiss a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prentiss ranks 41,989th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and low taxes, and lowest on thin health care access and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Prentiss expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $131,340. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $51,518 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Prentiss safe?
Prentiss is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.
Compare Prentiss with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prentiss. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prentiss 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.
Prentiss detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prentiss: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prentiss: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prentiss: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prentiss: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prentiss 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.