Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Corbin is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, ranked 118th of 138 in Kentucky, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools rank ahead of 53% of Kentucky towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $51K, and 26% of residents live below the poverty line. A typical home there costs about $170K, 3.7 years of the Corbin area’s $46K median household income. 26% of residents live below the poverty line in Corbin, against 16% in Kentucky’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Corbin has 8 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Louisville and Nashville Railroad Depot and Carnegie Library. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 88% of the country.
Where Corbin beats most towns.
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Depot
Arthur LakeCensus counts: 1,544 in 1900, 7,856 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 3 maps from 1952 on.
8 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kentucky), ordered by how far Corbin is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Corbin, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Corbin.
Corbin draws workers from Lexington and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has little public open land.
7,171 jobs are based in Corbin, 2.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one worker in four stays in Corbin for work. Employers in Corbin added 1,570 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 7,171. The top destinations are London (12%), Williamsburg (6%) and Barbourville (4%). 7.4% of Corbin workers work from home.
| Corbin | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $51,000 | $60,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 7.4% | 10% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Below: Three of its 11 schools, each with why it was picked. The largest public high school is Corbin High School, with 820 students. The Corbin Independent school district runs its public schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corbin PrimaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–3 | Grades K–3 | 815 | B |
| Corbin High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 820 | B− |
| Corbin Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades 4–5 | Grades 4–5 | 384 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KY on state tests and graduation
Against the 6,145 U.S. towns with household incomes like Corbin’s, it is less healthy than 71%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
The share of adults in Corbin who have been diagnosed with depression: 28%. Two figures for adults locally: 12% binge drink, 27% say their health is fair or poor.
| Corbin | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 14% | 16% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 22% | 19% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 38% | 35% |
| What stands out | Corbin | KY |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 7.2% | 5.4% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 5.1% | 4% |
| More adults with COPD | 13% | 10.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical home value in Corbin is about $170,000, down 3.4% in a year, 26% below the Kentucky typical home. The town’s going rate for rent comes in at $733 a month. 54% of households are owner-occupiers in the town.
| Corbin | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 54% | 59% | 73% |
| Median rent | $733 a month | $937 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Summers in Corbin are warm, and winters chilly, with plenty of rain. Summer afternoons peak near 86° in July, and January nights bottom out around 26°; snowfall runs to about 11 inches a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Every broad age group is within 4 points of the Kentucky average. Among residents in Corbin, 20% are 65 or older.
| Corbin | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 25% | 22% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 17% | 18% |
| Median age | 37.6 years | 37.6 years | 40.5 years |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.1 points. Across Kentucky, 50.5% of residents are women.
| Corbin | KY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 16.6% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.8% | 10.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.5% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.5% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.4% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.2% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 8.4% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.8% | 10.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.8% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 12.4% | 11.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 39.9% | 32.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.1% | 19.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.2% | 9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 14.6% | 16.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.9% | 11.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
In Corbin, the rate of reported violence is 1.6 per 1,000 residents. The town’s level of property crime stands at 9 per 1,000 residents.
| Corbin | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.6 per 1,000 residents | 1.3 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9 per 1,000 residents | 8.2 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Federal aid has come to Corbin households in 5 declared disasters; the latest was in 2025. Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in 52% of U.S. communities. FEMA puts 58% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 13% to cold waves. Since 1984, 12 flood insurance claims have been paid out locally.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Just 16 of its 5,097 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Corbin itself; its outdoors grade is D.
Corbin has 2 parks and preserves, 4 acres in all.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rotary Park South | — | 3 |
| 2. St. John's Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
2 within 15 miles of the center of Corbin
About 4 of every 100 Corbin residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Kentucky.
Where Corbin’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
8 places in Corbin on the National Register of Historic Places.
14 notable people were born in Corbin.
City in Kentucky, United States
Corbin is a home rule-class city in Whitley, Knox and Laurel counties in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 7,856. Corbin is on Interstate 75 and US Route 25W, about halfway between Knoxville, Tennessee, and Lexington, Kentucky.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Corbin.
| Town | KY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corbin | #118 | C− | B− | B− | B− | D |
| North Corbin | — | — | C | — | A− | D− |
North Corbin has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. North Corbin reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Corbin with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Corbin grades C− overall, better than 17% of U.S. towns and #118 of 138 in Kentucky. It grades D for health, B− for safety and B− for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
14 notable people were born here, including Arthur Lake and Frank Selvy.
