Best PlacesQueens, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Queens, 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.
Queens ranks 49,243rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Queens
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.
Queens' strengths and weaknesses
Where Queens ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 66% of towns
Where Queens ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Household income$47,933 median, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Queens
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Queens home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,933, 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 Queens' effective rate of 0.41%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Queens
Queens'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 Queens.
Who works in Queens, and how
Work in Queens centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Queens
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Queens.
What the weather is like in Queens, month by month
Queens sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Queens
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Queens
Schools across Queens average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lewis County Central Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Tollesboro Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lewis County Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Lewis County High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Queens school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Queens 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 Queens against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Queens
Is Queens a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Queens ranks 49,243rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and low property taxes, and lowest on health outcomes and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Queens expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $122,900. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $47,933 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Queens safe?
Queens is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
Compare Queens with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Queens. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Queens 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.
Queens detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Queens: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Queens: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Queens: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Queens: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Queens 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.