Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetKY-OAK-GROVE-KY · Oak Grove, KY 7,945 pop · income 16th pct
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 Oak Grove
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Oak Grove on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Pikeville · lowest
39,216
Pikeville · lowest
39,216 median HH income
28.2% of the leader · rank #1
Elkhart · near
47,885
Elkhart · near
47,885 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #2
Chanute · near
47,885
Chanute · near
47,885 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #3
Newberry · near
47,885
Newberry · near
47,885 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #4
Oak Grove · this city
47,886
Oak Grove · this city
47,886 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #5
Johnsonville · near
47,891
Johnsonville · near
47,891 median HH income
34.5% 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 Oak Grove 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: 7,945.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Oak Grove - the verdict
Oak Grove ranks in the 16th percentile for household income and the 19th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
16th
percentile, household income
25th
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: Oak Grove, KY
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 7,945 residents in Oak Grove, a small town within Kentucky. Oak Grove households earn a median of $47,886 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 15.2%. Typical homes in Oak Grove are valued around $143,500, and the median resident age is 25.4 years. About 15.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 47.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 10 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 60% from five years earlier. Oak Grove's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2767.7 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: 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Kentucky run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Oak Grove'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Oak Grove, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Oak Grove growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -108 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 10 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Oak Grove?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2767.7 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Oak Grove?
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are London (7,576 residents, $45,850 income); Pikeville (7,560 residents, $39,216 income); Mount Sterling (7,549 residents, $50,843 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Carneys Point, NJ (7,945 residents); Watsessing, NJ (7,944 residents); Lexington, TN (7,943 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
How far does income reach against housing in Oak Grove?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.2%, 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.
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 Oak Grove?
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 74.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
2.5%
Drive alone
74.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,105 workers age 16+.
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 F
276 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
15.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
15.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$47,886
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Oak Grove profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Violent crime: 37/100 (F) · 276 /100k
Poverty rate: 22/100 (F) · 15.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 20/100 (F) · 15.0%
Household income: 17/100 (F) · $47,886
Where Oak Grove sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Oak Grove'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 - Oak Grove highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Oak Grove, KY (this city): home $143,500, crime 2,768/100k
Lexington, TN : home $173,200, crime 2,400/100k
Emmett, ID : home $299,000, crime 753/100k
London, KY : home $155,500, crime 2,749/100k
Pikeville, KY : home $301,300, crime 1,634/100k
Mount Sterling, KY : home $178,200, crime 1,413/100k
Edgewood, KY : home $289,700, crime 477/100k
Corbin, KY : home $162,600, crime 1,275/100k
How does Oak Grove compare to other US cities?
Here's how Oak Grove stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income16% higher than other cities
Home value25% 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.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Kentucky alone, Oak Grove ranks #168 of 181 Kentucky cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Oak Grove 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 Oak Grove near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Oak Grove ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Oak Grove only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#308 of 485
36th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#248 of 484
49th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#207 of 519
60th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#307 of 520
40th 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
16th percentile nationally for median household income · 19th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Oak Grove's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Oak Grove'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 Oak Grove's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$143,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 75% 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
Oak Grove's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,673 of 15,516
More affordable than 57% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,652 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.0×, Oak Grove sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,673 of 15,516 and #5,652 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$47,886Oak Grove, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Oak Grove, 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 Oak Grove, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,945
Median Income
$47,886
Median Home Value
$143,500
Median Age
25.4
Poverty Rate
15.2%
Labor force participation
47.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2767.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
275.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2492.2
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Oak Grove's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,938 residents
2021
7,961 residents
2022
8,003 residents
2023
8,009 residents
2024
7,997 residents
2025
7,830 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
10
housing units authorized
Single-Family
10
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
25
25
0
$1.8M
2020
30
30
0
$2.1M
2021
32
32
0
$2.3M
2022
8
8
0
$0.7M
2023
9
9
0
$0.8M
2024
10
10
0
$0.9M
Permit volume decreased 60% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.3%
Carpool
21.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
2.5%
Based on 3,105 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 Oak Grove. 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 Oak Grove 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 Oak Grove sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Oak Grove 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, 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.