Best PlacesUnion, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Union, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Union ranks 490th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Union
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.
Union's strengths and weaknesses
Where Union ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 97% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of cities
- Household income$134,925 median, better than 84% of cities
Where Union ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 52 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 3% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Union
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Union home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $134,925, 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 Union's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Union
Union'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 Union.
Who works in Union, and how
Work in Union centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Union
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Union.
What the weather is like in Union, month by month
Union sees roughly 52 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Union
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 8 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Union
Schools across Union average a B, better than 61% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Erpenbeck Elementary SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Shirley Mann Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Longbranch Elementary SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gray Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Ballyshannon Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Ockerman Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Larry A. Ryle High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Randall K. Cooper High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Boone County High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Union school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Union 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 Union against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Union suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of cities and 19% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Union
Is Union a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Union ranks 490th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, what local pay buys, and a stable housing market, and lowest on the weather and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Union expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $379,971. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $134,925 median income, cost of living beats 95% of cities.
Is Union safe?
Yes, Union is safer than 65% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $243 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Union?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 23. That works out to about 52 pleasant days a year, more than 0% of cities.
Is Union good for families?
Schools beat 61% of cities, crime safety beats 65%, and childcare runs $866 a month.
Compare Union with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Union. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Union 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.
Union detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Union: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Union: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Union: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Union: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Union 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.