Best PlacesSelkirk, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Selkirk, 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.
Selkirk ranks 20,078th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Selkirk
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.
Selkirk's strengths and weaknesses
Where Selkirk ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute15.2 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
Where Selkirk ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Selkirk
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Selkirk home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,568, 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 Selkirk's effective rate of 1.48%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Selkirk
Selkirk runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Selkirk.
Who works in Selkirk, and how
Work in Selkirk centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Selkirk
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Selkirk.
What the weather is like in Selkirk, month by month
Selkirk sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 28° | 17° |
| April | 71° | 52° | 37° |
| July | 94° | 78° | 65° |
| October | 73° | 54° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Selkirk
The nearest airport, Garden City Regional, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 192 miles away.
The best schools in and around Selkirk
Schools across Selkirk average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wichita County ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Syracuse ElemC · 33% proficient
- Greeley County Elem SchoolC · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Plainview Junior-senior High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Wichita County Junior-senior High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Greeley County Jr./sr. HighD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Selkirk school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Selkirk 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 Selkirk against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Selkirk
Is Selkirk a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Selkirk ranks 20,078th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, a stable housing market, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Selkirk expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,832. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $91,568 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Selkirk safe?
Selkirk is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $488 per resident a year.
Compare Selkirk with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Selkirk. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Selkirk 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.
Selkirk detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Selkirk: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Selkirk: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Selkirk: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Selkirk: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Selkirk 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.