Best PlacesUrban, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Urban, 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.
Urban ranks 44,310th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Urban
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.
Urban's strengths and weaknesses
Where Urban ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$487 a month, better than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 69% of towns
Where Urban ranks low
- Short commute46.0 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Urban
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Urban home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,169, 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 Urban's effective rate of 0.57%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Urban
Urban runs older 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 Urban.
Who works in Urban, and how
Work in Urban centers on education and utilities. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Urban
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Urban.
What the weather is like in Urban, month by month
Urban sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Urban
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 74 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 139 miles away.
The best schools in and around Urban
Schools across Urban average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hacker Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clay County Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Clay County High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Urban school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Urban 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 Urban against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Urban
Is Urban a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Urban ranks 44,310th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and biking, and lowest on long commutes and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Urban expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $96,417. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $59,169 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Urban safe?
Yes, Urban is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $246 per resident a year.
Compare Urban with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Urban. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Urban 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.
Urban detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Urban: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Urban: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Urban: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Urban: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Urban 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.