New Castle, KY

The affordability dashboard for New Castle, KY aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 1,389 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (41/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $44,688, median home value of $127,300, median rent of $722 per month, and 28.5% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,272 per month (studio $966, 1BR $1,047, 3BR $1,625, 4BR $1,891). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $8,269 per year, consuming 19% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are income, commute, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 2.9% and poverty 16.5% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.