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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-LOUISVILLEJEFFERSON-COUNTY-KY · Louisville/Jefferson County, KY 627,210 pop · income 42nd pct · 216 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Louisville/Jefferson County
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Louisville/Jefferson County on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Detroit · lowest
39,575
Detroit · lowest
39,575 median HH income
37.2% of the leader · rank #1
Gulf Gate · near
64,724
Gulf Gate · near
64,724 median HH income
60.9% of the leader · rank #2
Louisville/Je… · this city
64,731
Louisville/Je… · this city
64,731 median HH income
60.9% of the leader · rank #3
Leoti · near
64,732
Leoti · near
64,732 median HH income
60.9% of the leader · rank #4
Tannersville · near
64,732
Tannersville · near
64,732 median HH income
60.9% of the leader · rank #5
Midway · near
64,735
Midway · near
64,735 median HH income
60.9% of the leader · rank #6
Washington · highest
106,287
Washington · highest
106,287 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Louisville/Jefferson County on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 627,210.
Louisville/Jefferson County ranks in the 42nd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
42nd
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Louisville/Jefferson County, KY
627,210 people live in Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Louisville/Jefferson County report a median income of $64,731 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.9%. Home values in Louisville/Jefferson County run a median of $221,500, and the median resident age is 37.7 years. About 33.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 62.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Kentucky run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Kentucky at 90.2 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $984 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Kentucky run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 44.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Louisville/Jefferson County's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to within-city variation to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Louisville/Jefferson County, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Louisville/Jefferson County growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +10,090 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.6% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can 216 Census tracts reveal inside Louisville/Jefferson County?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 216 Census tracts to this city.
How far does income reach against housing in Louisville/Jefferson County?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Which cities make useful reference points for Louisville/Jefferson County?
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are Lexington-Fayette (321,122 residents, $67,631 income); Bowling Green (73,638 residents, $48,419 income); Owensboro (60,112 residents, $53,295 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Memphis, TN (629,063 residents); Detroit, MI (636,644 residents); Portland, OR (642,715 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Louisville/Jefferson County?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
2.2%
Work from home
11.6%
Drive alone
73.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 306,339 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 11.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
C-
City profile score · Louisville/Jefferson County, KY
54/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A
90.2 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share C+
33.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$64,731
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Louisville/Jefferson County profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 64/100 (C+) · 33.4%
Household income: 42/100 (D) · $64,731
Poverty rate: 32/100 (F) · 11.9%
How does Louisville/Jefferson County compare to other US cities?
Here's how Louisville/Jefferson County stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income42% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Louisville/Jefferson County against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Kentucky only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Kentucky-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Louisville/Jefferson County near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Louisville/Jefferson County ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Louisville/Jefferson County only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#182 of 485
62nd percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#123 of 484
75th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#243 of 519
53rd percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#136 of 520
74th percentile in Kentucky
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Kentucky only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
42nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Louisville/Jefferson County's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$221,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,663 of 15,516
More affordable than 44% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#27 of 117
Large cities (200,000–999,999)
At 3.4×, Louisville/Jefferson County sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,663 of 15,516 and #27 of 117large cities (200,000–999,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$64,731Louisville/Jefferson County, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Louisville/Jefferson County, KY median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Louisville/Jefferson County, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)33.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
627,210
Median Income
$64,731
Median Home Value
$221,500
Median Age
37.7
Poverty Rate
11.9%
Labor force participation
62.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
33.4%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Louisville/Jefferson County's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
631,872 residents
2021
627,582 residents
2022
628,624 residents
2023
633,289 residents
2024
641,189 residents
2025
641,962 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.5%
Carpool
8.7%
Public Transit
2.2%
Walk
2.0%
Work from Home
11.6%
Other
2.0%
Based on 306,339 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Kentucky statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Kentucky at $225 (electricity about $115 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Kentucky statewide averages, not a meter reading for Louisville/Jefferson County. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Kentucky's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.2 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Louisville/Jefferson County is $984/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Kentucky statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 44.2 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Kentucky statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Louisville/Jefferson County sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Louisville/Jefferson County compares to similar-size Kentucky cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.