Best PlacesShelton, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shelton, 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.
Shelton ranks 17,854th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shelton
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.
Shelton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shelton ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 124 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of towns
Where Shelton ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shelton
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shelton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,649, 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 Shelton'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 Shelton
Shelton runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shelton.
Who works in Shelton, and how
Work in Shelton centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Shelton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shelton.
What the weather is like in Shelton, month by month
Shelton sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 66° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Shelton
The nearest airport, Kearney Regional, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shelton
Schools across Shelton average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ravenna Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Centura Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Wood River Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wood River Rural Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Wood River Rural High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Centura Secondary SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Ravenna Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shelton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shelton 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 Shelton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shelton
Is Shelton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shelton ranks 17,854th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, state infrastructure, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shelton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,558. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $85,649 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Shelton safe?
Shelton is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $278 per resident a year.
Compare Shelton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shelton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shelton 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.
Shelton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shelton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shelton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shelton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shelton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shelton 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.