Best PlacesWillow Shade, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willow Shade, 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.
Willow Shade ranks 45,899th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Willow Shade
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.
Willow Shade's strengths and weaknesses
Where Willow Shade ranks high
- Cheap childcare$620 a month, better than 77% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 72% of towns
- QuietBetter than 68% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 68% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 68% of towns
Where Willow Shade ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Willow Shade
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willow Shade home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,609, 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 Willow Shade's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Willow Shade
Willow Shade runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Willow Shade.
Who works in Willow Shade, and how
Work in Willow Shade centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Willow Shade
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Willow Shade.
What the weather is like in Willow Shade, month by month
Willow Shade sees roughly 55 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 Willow Shade
Nashville International sits about 78 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 Willow Shade
Schools across Willow Shade average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cumberland County Elementary SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Metcalfe County Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cumberland County Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Metcalfe County Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Cumberland County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Metcalfe County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willow Shade school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willow Shade 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 Willow Shade against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Willow Shade
Is Willow Shade a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willow Shade ranks 45,899th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and quiet, 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 Willow Shade expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,721. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $54,609 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Willow Shade safe?
Willow Shade is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $348 per resident a year.
Compare Willow Shade with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willow Shade. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willow Shade 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.
Willow Shade detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willow Shade: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willow Shade: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willow Shade: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willow Shade: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willow Shade 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.