Best PlacesUlysses, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ulysses, 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.
Ulysses ranks 33,653rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ulysses
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.
Ulysses' strengths and weaknesses
Where Ulysses ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
Where Ulysses ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ulysses
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ulysses home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,270, 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 Ulysses' effective rate of 1.26%, 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 Ulysses
Ulysses's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Ulysses.
Who works in Ulysses, and how
Work in Ulysses centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ulysses
Ulysses has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Ulysses and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ulysses, month by month
Ulysses sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 32° | 21° |
| April | 73° | 54° | 39° |
| July | 94° | 78° | 65° |
| October | 74° | 56° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Ulysses
The nearest airport, Garden City Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 239 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ulysses
Schools across Ulysses average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sublette ElemB− · 40% proficient
- Lakin ElemC− · 30% proficient
- Satanta ElemC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lakin MiddleD · 23% proficient
- Sublette MiddleD− · 17% proficient
- Kepley Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Deerfield HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Sublette HighD− · 14% proficient
- Lakin HighD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ulysses school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ulysses 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 Ulysses against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ulysses
Is Ulysses a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ulysses ranks 33,653rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ulysses expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $121,616. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $82,270 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Ulysses safe?
Ulysses is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $754 per resident a year.
Compare Ulysses with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ulysses. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ulysses 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.
Ulysses detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ulysses: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ulysses: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ulysses: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ulysses: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ulysses 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.