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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-ELIZABETHTOWN-KY · Elizabethtown, KY 31,870 pop · income 29th pct · 28 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 Elizabethtown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Elizabethtown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Marrero · lowest
45,633
Marrero · lowest
45,633 median HH income
27.9% of the leader · rank #1
Elizabethtown · this city
56,250
Elizabethtown · this city
56,250 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #2
St. Florian · near
56,250
St. Florian · near
56,250 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #3
Koliganek · near
56,250
Koliganek · near
56,250 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #4
Newhalen · near
56,250
Newhalen · near
56,250 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #5
St. Michael · near
56,250
St. Michael · near
56,250 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #6
Erie · highest
163,644
Erie · highest
163,644 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Elizabethtown on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 31,870.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Elizabethtown - the verdict
Elizabethtown ranks in the 29th percentile for household income and the 71st percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
29th
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
71st
percentile, safety
📝 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: Elizabethtown, KY
Kentucky's Elizabethtown is a small city, with 31,870 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $56,250 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.6%. Typical homes in Elizabethtown are valued around $223,200, and the median resident age is 37.7 years. 28.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 57.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 660 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 715% from five years earlier. Elizabethtown reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 835.3 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Kentucky run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Kentucky scores 90.2 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $984 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Kentucky, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Elizabethtown workers runs 20.2 minutes, with 81.2% driving alone and 5.2% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 44.2 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Elizabethtown'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 reported crime to work and mobility to schools and households to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Elizabethtown, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Is Elizabethtown growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +4,040 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +12.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 660 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Elizabethtown?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 835.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 63% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
What can 28 Census tracts reveal inside Elizabethtown?
PlainCities matches 28 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Elizabethtown?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are Nicholasville (31,625 residents, $67,514 income); Florence (32,334 residents, $68,508 income); Hopkinsville (31,011 residents, $47,428 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Marrero, LA (31,866 residents); Laramie, WY (31,848 residents); Michigan City, IN (31,894 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.
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 Elizabethtown?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 20.2 minutes.
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.
Drive alone
81.2%
Work from home
5.2%
Public transit
0.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 14,586 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Elizabethtown?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 17 public schools within the city match. 28.3% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
10.6%
Bachelor's degree+
28.3%
Matched public schools
17
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Elizabethtown?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.0×
Home value
$223,200
Household income
$56,250
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 10.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
C-
City profile score · Elizabethtown, KY
52/100
5 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.
Violent crime C+
137 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C
28.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
10.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$56,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Elizabethtown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Violent crime: 62/100 (C+) · 137 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.3%
Poverty rate: 37/100 (F) · 10.6%
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,250
Where Elizabethtown sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Elizabethtown's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Elizabethtown highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Elizabethtown, KY (this city): home $223,200, crime 835/100k
Laramie, WY : home $302,200, crime 1,293/100k
Michigan City, IN : home $129,000, crime 2,406/100k
Erie, CO : home $685,900, crime 926/100k
Carlsbad, NM : home $187,900, crime 3,316/100k
Nicholasville, KY : home $210,700, crime 1,610/100k
Florence, KY : home $196,200, crime 3,445/100k
Hopkinsville, KY : home $140,200, crime 2,952/100k
Independence, KY : home $240,500, crime 343/100k
Jeffersontown, KY : home $236,800, crime 2,381/100k
Frankfort, KY : home $171,600, crime 1,846/100k
How does Elizabethtown compare to other US cities?
Here's how Elizabethtown stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income29% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
Safety71% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Kentucky and the picture shifts: Elizabethtown ranks #94 of 181 Kentucky cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Elizabethtown 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 Elizabethtown near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Elizabethtown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Elizabethtown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#239 of 485
51st percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#122 of 484
75th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#269 of 519
48th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#161 of 520
69th 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
29th percentile nationally for median household income · 71st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Elizabethtown's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Elizabethtown's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Elizabethtown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$223,200Among 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
Elizabethtown's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,616 of 15,516
More affordable than 32% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,958 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.0×, Elizabethtown sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,616 of 15,516 and #1,958 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$56,250Elizabethtown, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Elizabethtown, 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 Elizabethtown, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
31,870
Median Income
$56,250
Median Home Value
$223,200
Median Age
37.7
Poverty Rate
10.6%
Labor force participation
57.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
835.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
137.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
698.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
17
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Elizabethtown's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
31,408 residents
2021
31,934 residents
2022
31,911 residents
2023
33,039 residents
2024
34,491 residents
2025
35,448 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
660
housing units authorized
Single-Family
134
detached homes
Multifamily
526
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
20.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
81
55
26
$16.5M
2020
310
83
227
$33.8M
2021
105
79
26
$25.6M
2022
752
130
622
$118.7M
2023
1,187
173
1,014
$157.5M
2024
660
134
526
$91.0M
Permit volume increased 715% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
20.2 minutes
Drive Alone
81.2%
Carpool
9.2%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
1.1%
Work from Home
5.2%
Other
3.1%
Based on 14,586 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 Elizabethtown. 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 Elizabethtown 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 Elizabethtown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Elizabethtown 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, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.