Best PlacesRitner, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ritner, 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.
Ritner ranks 49,329th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ritner
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.
Ritner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ritner ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap childcare$439 a month, better than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute23.0 minutes each way, better than 74% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 68% of towns
Where Ritner ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ritner
A household needs to earn about $16,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ritner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $28,550, 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 Ritner's effective rate of 0.17%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Ritner
Ritner runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ritner.
Who works in Ritner, and how
Work in Ritner centers on education and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ritner
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ritner.
What the weather is like in Ritner, month by month
Ritner sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 35° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 74° | 58° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Ritner
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 76 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ritner
Schools across Ritner average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monticello Elementary SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
- Whitley City Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mccreary County Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Wayne County Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Wayne County High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
- Mccreary Central High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ritner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ritner 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 Ritner against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ritner
Is Ritner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ritner ranks 49,329th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and tree cover, and lowest on education levels and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ritner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $67,604. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $28,550 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Ritner safe?
Ritner is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $444 per resident a year.
Compare Ritner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ritner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ritner 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.
Ritner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ritner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ritner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ritner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ritner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ritner 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.