Best PlacesShady Bend, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shady Bend, 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.
Shady Bend ranks 27,103rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Shady Bend
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.
Shady Bend's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shady Bend ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 86% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 82% of towns
Where Shady Bend ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shady Bend
A household needs to earn about $17,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shady Bend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,143, 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 Shady Bend's effective rate of 1.54%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shady Bend
Shady Bend'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 Shady Bend.
Who works in Shady Bend, and how
Work in Shady Bend centers on agriculture & forestry and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Shady Bend
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shady Bend.
What the weather is like in Shady Bend, month by month
Shady Bend sees roughly 107 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 Shady Bend
The nearest airport, Salina Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 179 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shady Bend
Schools across Shady Bend average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln ElemA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Lincoln Jr/sr HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shady Bend school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shady Bend 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 Shady Bend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shady Bend
Is Shady Bend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shady Bend ranks 27,103rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and a strong job market, and lowest on distance from a big city and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shady Bend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $59,700. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $82,143 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Shady Bend safe?
Shady Bend is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $425 per resident a year.
Compare Shady Bend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shady Bend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shady Bend 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.
Shady Bend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shady Bend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shady Bend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shady Bend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shady Bend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shady Bend 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.