Best PlacesWestbend, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westbend, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Westbend ranks 37,069th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Westbend
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.
Westbend's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westbend ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 76% of towns
Where Westbend ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Westbend
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westbend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,492, 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 Westbend's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Westbend
Westbend's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Westbend.
Who works in Westbend, and how
Work in Westbend centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 98%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Westbend
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Westbend.
What the weather is like in Westbend, month by month
Westbend sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, 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 | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 67° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Westbend
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Westbend
Schools across Westbend average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clay City Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Powell County Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Powell County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westbend school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westbend 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 Westbend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Westbend
Is Westbend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westbend ranks 37,069th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, fast internet, and heat safety, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Westbend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,000. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $86,492 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Westbend safe?
Westbend is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
Compare Westbend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westbend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westbend 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.
Westbend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westbend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westbend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westbend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westbend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westbend 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.