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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-LONDON-KY · London, KY 7,576 pop · income 14th pct · 16 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 London
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest London on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Arcadia · lowest
38,388
Arcadia · lowest
38,388 median HH income
27.6% of the leader · rank #1
Floydada · near
45,848
Floydada · near
45,848 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #2
Valdosta · near
45,849
Valdosta · near
45,849 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #3
London · this city
45,850
London · this city
45,850 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #4
Amite City · near
45,850
Amite City · near
45,850 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #5
Wadena · near
45,850
Wadena · near
45,850 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #6
Union · highest
139,013
Union · highest
139,013 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 London 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: 7,576.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
London - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, London places in the 14th percentile for household income and the 19th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
14th
percentile, household income
29th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
19th
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: London, KY
7,576 people live in London, Kentucky - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. London households earn a median of $45,850 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 26.7%. Typical homes in London are valued around $155,500, and the median resident age is 39.4 years. 16.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 47.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 16 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 220% from five years earlier. London's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2749.3 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Kentucky run below the national norm: the state registers 90.2 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $984 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Kentucky, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 44.2 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of London'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 housing and income to schools and households to within-city variation to reported crime to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For London, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Is London growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +83 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 16 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.
How far does income reach against housing in London?
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 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 26.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
PlainCities matches 16 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 London?
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 Pikeville (7,560 residents, $39,216 income); Mount Sterling (7,549 residents, $50,843 income); Union (7,494 residents, $139,013 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ojai, CA (7,576 residents); Brighton, MI (7,576 residents); Baywood, NY (7,577 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for London?
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 15 public schools within the city match. 16.8% 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
26.7%
Bachelor's degree+
16.8%
Matched public schools
15
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in London?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2749.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 21% higher 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.
Total reported rate
2749.3
Violent rate
144.7
Property rate
2604.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in London?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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
66.3%
Work from home
13.0%
Public transit
1.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,718 workers age 16+.
Low income · poverty 26.7% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
F
City profile score · London, KY
37/100
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+
145 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$45,850
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
26.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
London profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Violent crime: 60/100 (C+) · 145 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 25/100 (F) · 16.8%
Household income: 15/100 (F) · $45,850
Poverty rate: 4/100 (F) · 26.7%
Where London sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
London'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 - London highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
London, KY (this city): home $155,500, crime 2,749/100k
Ojai, CA : home $947,000, crime 1,039/100k
Brighton, MI : home $302,800, crime 1,339/100k
Ellwood City, PA : home $120,400, crime 906/100k
Arcadia, FL : home $158,900, crime 1,878/100k
Uniontown, OH : home $241,900, crime 1,525/100k
Pikeville, KY : home $301,300, crime 1,634/100k
Mount Sterling, KY : home $178,200, crime 1,413/100k
Villa Hills, KY : home $339,800, crime 893/100k
Flatwoods, KY : home $112,200, crime 264/100k
Russellville, KY : home $156,000, crime 1,218/100k
How does London compare to other US cities?
London measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income14% higher than other cities
Home value29% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
Safety19% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Kentucky, London ranks #167 of 181 Kentucky cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares London 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 London near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, London ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares London only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#331 of 485
32nd percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#224 of 484
54th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#83 of 519
84th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#282 of 520
45th 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
14th percentile nationally for median household income · 19th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
London's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
London'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 London's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$155,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 71% 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
London's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,537 of 15,516
More affordable than 45% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,933 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.4×, London sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,537 of 15,516 and #6,933 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$45,850London, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context London, 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 London, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)26.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,576
Median Income
$45,850
Median Home Value
$155,500
Median Age
39.4
Poverty Rate
26.7%
Labor force participation
47.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2749.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
144.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2604.6
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
15
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
London's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,554 residents
2021
7,532 residents
2022
7,536 residents
2023
7,586 residents
2024
7,565 residents
2025
7,637 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
16
housing units authorized
Single-Family
10
detached homes
Multifamily
6
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
1
4
$0.5M
2020
20
20
0
$2.1M
2021
11
3
8
$1.2M
2022
12
10
2
$1.2M
2023
6
6
0
$2.0M
2024
16
10
6
$2.7M
Permit volume increased 220% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.3%
Carpool
16.6%
Public Transit
1.3%
Walk
0.8%
Work from Home
13.0%
Other
2.0%
Based on 2,718 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 London. 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 London 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 London sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How London 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.