Best PlacesSwan Lake, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Swan Lake, 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.
Swan Lake ranks 49,470th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Swan Lake
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.
Swan Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Swan Lake ranks high
- Cheap childcare$461 a month, better than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 76% of towns
Where Swan Lake ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute47.3 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$21,337 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Swan Lake
A household needs to earn about $21,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Swan Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $21,337, 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 Swan Lake's effective rate of 0.52%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Swan Lake
Swan Lake runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Swan Lake.
Who works in Swan Lake, and how
Work in Swan Lake centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Swan Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Swan Lake.
What the weather is like in Swan Lake, month by month
Swan Lake sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Swan Lake
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 71 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 157 miles away.
The best schools in and around Swan Lake
Schools across Swan Lake average a C−, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- G R Hampton Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Knox County Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Knox Central High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Swan Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Swan Lake 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 Swan Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Swan Lake
Is Swan Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Swan Lake ranks 49,470th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and tree cover, and lowest on thin health care access and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Swan Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $83,300. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $21,337 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Swan Lake safe?
Swan Lake is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $424 per resident a year.
Compare Swan Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Swan Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Swan Lake 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.
Swan Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Swan Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Swan Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Swan Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Swan Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Swan Lake 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.