Best PlacesRutherford, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rutherford, 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.
Rutherford ranks 48,313th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rutherford
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.
Rutherford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rutherford ranks high
- Cheap childcare$461 a month, better than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 73% of towns
Where Rutherford ranks low
- Short commute49.9 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rutherford
A household needs to earn about $13,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rutherford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,295, 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 Rutherford's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rutherford
Rutherford runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Rutherford.
Who works in Rutherford, and how
Work in Rutherford centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Rutherford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rutherford.
What the weather is like in Rutherford, month by month
Rutherford sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Rutherford
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rutherford
Schools across Rutherford average a D, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wallins Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Harlan County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rutherford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rutherford 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 Rutherford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rutherford
Is Rutherford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rutherford ranks 48,313th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rutherford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $49,690. The overall cost of living runs about 28% below the national average. Set against a $47,295 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Rutherford safe?
Rutherford is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $380 per resident a year.
Compare Rutherford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rutherford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rutherford 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.
Rutherford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rutherford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rutherford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rutherford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rutherford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rutherford 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.