Best PlacesShelbyville, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shelbyville, 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.
Shelbyville ranks 1,581st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Shelbyville
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.
Shelbyville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shelbyville ranks high
- Cheap childcare$667 a month, better than 91% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 79% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 70% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 65% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 65% of cities
Where Shelbyville ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 52 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 12% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 13% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Shelbyville
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shelbyville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,769, 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 Shelbyville's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shelbyville
Shelbyville's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shelbyville.
Who works in Shelbyville, and how
Work in Shelbyville centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Shelbyville
Shelbyville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 79% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Shelbyville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Shelbyville, month by month
Shelbyville sees roughly 52 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Shelbyville
The nearest airport, Louisville Muhammad Ali International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shelbyville
Schools across Shelbyville average a D+, better than 13% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Simpsonville ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- Spencer County Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Heritage ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Spencer County Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Shelby County East Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Shelby County West Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Spencer County High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Martha Layne Collins High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Shelby County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shelbyville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shelbyville 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 Shelbyville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Shelbyville suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Shelbyville
Is Shelbyville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shelbyville ranks 1,581st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and low taxes, and lowest on the weather and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shelbyville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $270,097. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $76,769 median income, cost of living beats 44% of cities.
Is Shelbyville safe?
Shelbyville is safer than 54% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Shelbyville?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 25. That works out to about 52 pleasant days a year, more than 0% of cities.
Is Shelbyville good for families?
Schools beat 13% of cities, crime safety beats 54%, and childcare runs $667 a month.
Compare Shelbyville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shelbyville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shelbyville 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.
Shelbyville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shelbyville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shelbyville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shelbyville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shelbyville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shelbyville 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.