Best PlacesYellow Rock, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Yellow Rock, 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.
Yellow Rock ranks 49,521st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Yellow Rock
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.
Yellow Rock's strengths and weaknesses
Where Yellow Rock ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 75% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 70% of towns
Where Yellow Rock ranks low
- Short commute46.9 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Household income$43,028 median, better than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Yellow Rock
A household needs to earn about $18,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yellow Rock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $43,028, 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 Yellow Rock's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Yellow Rock
Yellow Rock runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Yellow Rock.
Who works in Yellow Rock, and how
Work in Yellow Rock centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Yellow Rock
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Yellow Rock.
What the weather is like in Yellow Rock, month by month
Yellow Rock sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 47, 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 | 47° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Yellow Rock
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 111 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yellow Rock
Schools across Yellow Rock average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lee County Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Estill County Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Jackson County Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Lee County Middle High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yellow Rock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yellow Rock 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 Yellow Rock against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Yellow Rock
Is Yellow Rock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yellow Rock ranks 49,521st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, tree cover, and affordable childcare, and lowest on long commutes and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Yellow Rock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $68,136. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $43,028 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Yellow Rock safe?
Yellow Rock is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $406 per resident a year.
Compare Yellow Rock with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yellow Rock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yellow Rock 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.
Yellow Rock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yellow Rock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yellow Rock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yellow Rock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yellow Rock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yellow Rock 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.