CawoodKY
With 596 residents, it is a town in Kentucky.
Is Cawood a good place to live?
No town among the 120 in Kentucky we compare has a lower typical home value than Cawood. Cawood has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
596 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Moving to Cawood: who provides what
Cawood is unincorporated, so Harlan County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Cawood.
A typical Cawood home is worth about $72K
Cawood: 88% of households own their home. In the year to September 2026, typical home values slipped 2.6%.
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The schools Cawood’s kids attend
Its one school is below. The Harlan County school district runs its public schools. Enrollment at Cawood’s public school: 209 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cawood Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 209 | C |
NCES · EDFacts
In Cawood, the FEMA risk score runs higher than in the typical Kentucky or U.S. town
FEMA puts 73% of Cawood’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 8% to strong winds. Federal aid has come to Cawood households in 3 declared disasters; the latest was in 2025. Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 94% of U.S. communities.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most of Cawood’s workers commute out: the town has 0.1 jobs for each of them
Half commute less than 34 miles. Cawood: 1.2% of working residents work locally, against 15% in Kentucky’s towns and 8% across U.S. towns. In Cawood, 6.4% of residents live below the poverty line. The top destinations are Middlesborough (7%), Lexington (5%) and Harlan (4%).
| Cawood | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1.2% | 15% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.4% | 16% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Four seasons and pleasant summers in Cawood
July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 25° and about 9 inches of snow falls in a winter. No town among the 143 in Kentucky we compare has a lower midsummer high than Cawood.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
More adults under 35 in Cawood than across Kentucky
Adults 18 to 34 are 31% of residents (22% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 32% of residents (38% statewide). Four-year graduates: just over a third of adults 25 and older here, 28% across Kentucky.
| Cawood | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 34.9 years | 37.6 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 26% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
Somewhere between 5% and 79% women
The Census survey reached too few of Cawood’s residents to say more: its margin here is ±37.2 points. Across Kentucky, 50.5% of residents are women.
| Cawood | KY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.1% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.6% | 10.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.2% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 23.3% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 17.6% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.1% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 4.5% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.7% | 10.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.9% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 14.7% | 11.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 34.7% | 32.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 6% | 19.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.9% | 9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25.6% | 16.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.1% | 11.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 600, single groups can be off by several points
A larger share of adults get no exercise outside work in Cawood than in most of Kentucky or the rest of the country
Of the 142 Kentucky towns we compare, none has a higher share of adults who smoke cigarettes than Cawood. Cawood: 23% of adults report frequent mental distress, where Kentucky’s towns sit at 18% and U.S. towns at 17%. Add to that, for adults in the town, the share who sleep under 7 hours is 46%.
| Cawood | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 23% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 18% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 18% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cawood | KY |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 11.5% | 5.4% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 35% | 18.9% |
| More adults with COPD | 18% | 10.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
United States Penitentiary and 3 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cawood. Close and well known come first.
14 mi Ancient siteUnited States Penitentiary
21 mi MountainBlack Mountain
14 mi National Historical ParkCumberland Gap National Historical Park765K visitors a year
18 mi MuseumHensley SettlementPhoto credits
United States Penitentiary: Nyttend, Public domain · Black Mountain: iLoveMountains.org, CC BY 2.0 · Cumberland Gap National Historical Park: J654567, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hensley Settlement: National Park Service, Public domain
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Everything we know about Cawood
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Cawood; the nearest are
About 10 of every 100 Cawood residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Kentucky.
99% of working residents leave Cawood for work
Where Cawood’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Cawood
Census-designated place in Kentucky, United States
Cawood is a census-designated place (CDP) and coal town in Harlan County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 census, Cawood had a population of 630. A post office in Cawood was established in 1890 by Wilson S. Hensley. He said one of his ancestors was Berry Cawood, a hero of the Revolutionary War.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 1.5 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,320 ft
- ZIP code
- 40815
Questions about Cawood
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Cawood, KY a good place to live?
Cawood has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.