Best PlacesTompkinsville, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tompkinsville, 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.
Tompkinsville ranks 39,670th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Tompkinsville
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.
Tompkinsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tompkinsville ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap childcare$660 a month, better than 71% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 68% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 65% of towns
Where Tompkinsville ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Household income$49,980 median, better than only 12% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tompkinsville
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tompkinsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,980, 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 Tompkinsville's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Tompkinsville
Tompkinsville'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 Tompkinsville.
Who works in Tompkinsville, and how
Work in Tompkinsville centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Tompkinsville
Tompkinsville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Tompkinsville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tompkinsville, month by month
Tompkinsville sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 90° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Tompkinsville
Nashville International sits about 68 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.6 million passengers in 2025, with 158 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Tompkinsville
Schools across Tompkinsville average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gamaliel ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Tompkinsville ElemB · 48% proficient
- Joe Harrison CarterB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cumberland County Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Monroe Co MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Cumberland County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Monroe Co HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tompkinsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tompkinsville 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 Tompkinsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tompkinsville
Is Tompkinsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tompkinsville ranks 39,670th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, affordable childcare, and few empty homes, and lowest on the weather and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tompkinsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,415. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $49,980 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Tompkinsville safe?
Tompkinsville is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $281 per resident a year.
Compare Tompkinsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tompkinsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tompkinsville 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.
Tompkinsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tompkinsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tompkinsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tompkinsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tompkinsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tompkinsville 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.