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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-ST-MATTHEWS-KY · St. Matthews, KY 17,491 pop · income 62nd 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 St. Matthews
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest St. Matthews on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Murray · lowest
40,348
Murray · lowest
40,348 median HH income
29.3% of the leader · rank #1
Matherville · near
80,714
Matherville · near
80,714 median HH income
58.5% of the leader · rank #2
Princeton · near
80,714
Princeton · near
80,714 median HH income
58.5% of the leader · rank #3
Sutton · near
80,714
Sutton · near
80,714 median HH income
58.5% of the leader · rank #4
Parish · near
80,714
Parish · near
80,714 median HH income
58.5% of the leader · rank #5
St. Matthews · this city
80,716
St. Matthews · this city
80,716 median HH income
58.5% of the leader · rank #6
Melissa · highest
137,875
Melissa · highest
137,875 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 St. Matthews 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: 17,491.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
St. Matthews - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, St. Matthews places in the 62nd percentile for household income and the 3rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
62nd
percentile, household income
69th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
3rd
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: St. Matthews, KY
17,491 people live in St. Matthews, Kentucky - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in St. Matthews report a median income of $80,716 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.8%. Typical homes in St. Matthews are valued around $325,700, and the median resident age is 37.9 years. About 56.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 66.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
St. Matthews's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 5223.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Kentucky's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). 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 St. Matthews'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 housing and income to reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For St. Matthews, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in St. Matthews?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.8%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What can the FBI record say about safety in St. Matthews?
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 5223.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 129% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for St. Matthews?
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are Shelbyville (17,436 residents, $73,733 income); Fort Thomas (17,242 residents, $100,819 income); Danville (17,235 residents, $53,370 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Jacksonville, IL (17,490 residents); Kirksville, MO (17,493 residents); Melissa, TX (17,497 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.
What does the journey to work look like in St. Matthews?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Population change
Is St. Matthews 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 +311 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.8% 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.
Period change
+1.8%
2025 estimate
17,868
2020 estimate
17,557
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 5.8% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
B
City profile score · St. Matthews, KY
70/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A
56.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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+
127 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income C+
$80,716
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C+
5.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
St. Matthews profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 89/100 (A) · 56.4%
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Violent crime: 64/100 (C+) · 127 /100k
Household income: 60/100 (C+) · $80,716
Poverty rate: 60/100 (C+) · 5.8%
Where St. Matthews sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
St. Matthews'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 - St. Matthews highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
St. Matthews, KY (this city): home $325,700, crime 5,223/100k
Jacksonville, IL : home $128,300, crime 2,406/100k
Kirksville, MO : home $145,300, crime 2,352/100k
Melissa, TX : home $430,300, crime 377/100k
Gretna, LA : home $242,600, crime 4,229/100k
Shelbyville, KY : home $238,600, crime 1,142/100k
Fort Thomas, KY : home $301,400, crime 535/100k
Danville, KY : home $202,200, crime 1,155/100k
Murray, KY : home $193,300, crime 1,528/100k
Mount Washington, KY : home $253,700, crime 590/100k
How does St. Matthews compare to other US cities?
St. Matthews measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income62% higher than other cities
Home value69% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
Safety3% 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, St. Matthews ranks #180 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 St. Matthews 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 St. Matthews near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, St. Matthews ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares St. Matthews only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#121 of 485
75th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#54 of 484
89th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#358 of 519
31st percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#55 of 520
89th 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
62nd percentile nationally for median household income · 3rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
St. Matthews's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
St. Matthews'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 St. Matthews's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$325,70031st percentilemore affordable than 31% 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
St. Matthews'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
#10,808 of 15,516
More affordable than 30% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,014 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.0×, St. Matthews sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,808 of 15,516 and #2,014 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
$80,716St. Matthews, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context St. Matthews, 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 St. Matthews, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)56.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
17,491
Median Income
$80,716
Median Home Value
$325,700
Median Age
37.9
Poverty Rate
5.8%
Labor force participation
66.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
56.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
5223.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
127.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
5095.7
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
St. Matthews's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
17,557 residents
2021
17,469 residents
2022
17,518 residents
2023
17,615 residents
2024
17,812 residents
2025
17,868 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.8%
Carpool
4.7%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
0.8%
Work from Home
16.4%
Other
0.9%
Based on 10,076 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 St. Matthews. 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 St. Matthews 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 St. Matthews sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How St. Matthews 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.