Best PlacesSaline County, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Saline County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Saline County ranks 1,060th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Saline County
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.
Saline County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Saline County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 95% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 94% of counties
- Short commute15.8 minutes each way, better than 94% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of counties
Where Saline County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 15% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Saline County
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Saline County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,123, 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 Saline County's effective rate of 1.32%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Saline County
Saline County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Saline County.
Who works in Saline County, and how
Work in Saline County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Saline County
Saline County has more parkland per resident than 76% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 68% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Saline County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Saline County growing, and who is moving in?
Saline County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dickinson County, KS.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Saline County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Saline County, month by month
Saline County sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 71° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 70° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Saline County
The nearest airport, Salina Regional, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 159 miles away.
The best schools in and around Saline County
Schools across Saline County average a D+, better than 16% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Soderstrom ElemB+ · 53% proficient
- Southeast Saline ElemB · 47% proficient
- Stewart ElemB · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Smoky Valley Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Salina South MiddleD · 23% proficient
- Lakewood Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Southeast Saline HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Bennington Junior High/high SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Smoky Valley HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Saline County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Saline County 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 Saline County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Saline County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 84% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 7% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 66% of counties and health care access beats 58%.
Common questions about living in Saline County
Is Saline County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Saline County ranks 1,060th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Saline County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,821. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $74,123 median income, cost of living beats 84% of counties.
Is Saline County safe?
Saline County is safer than 53% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Saline County?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 22. That works out to about 108 pleasant days a year, more than 66% of counties.
Is Saline County good for families?
Schools beat 16% of counties, crime safety beats 53%, and childcare runs $467 a month.
Compare Saline County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Saline County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Saline County 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.
Saline County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Saline County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Saline County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Saline County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Saline County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Saline County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.