Elk CreekKY
A town of 2,207, settled in 1856. Public schools that outperform most of Kentucky.
Is Elk Creek a good place to live?
The best of Elk Creek’s subject grades is an A− for incomes; the weakest is a C− for walkability. On the outdoors, just 1 of Kentucky’s 238 towns do worse. Elk Creek has 6 places on the National Register. Elk Creek has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Elk Creek stand out
Where Elk Creek beats most towns.
99% of working residents leave Elk Creek for work
Where Elk Creek’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Elk Creek grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kentucky), ordered by how far Elk Creek is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Elk Creek: who provides what
Elk Creek is unincorporated, so Spencer 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 Elk Creek.
Elk Creek has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
The top destinations are Louisville (23%), Jeffersontown (7%) and Taylorsville (5%). Just 1% of Elk Creek’s working residents have a job in town. Of the 143 Kentucky towns we compare, none has a higher average trip to work than Elk Creek. The middle household income for Elk Creek comes to $144,000, where Kentucky’s towns sit at $60,000 and U.S. towns at $80,000.
| Elk Creek | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $144,000 | $60,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.9% | 15% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.9% | 16% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer Christian School PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 158 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KY on state tests and graduation
Expect four seasons and pleasant summers in Elk Creek
Expect July afternoons of 87° and January nights of 24°, with about 15 inches of snow a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
On CDC estimates, Elk Creek is healthier than 62% of U.S. towns
Elk Creek: 15% of adults binge drink, above Kentucky’s towns (14%) but below U.S. towns (16%). 22% of adults get no exercise outside work here. In Elk Creek, nearly one in ten adults worry about having enough food, and 17% say their health is fair or poor.
| Elk Creek | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 9.5% | 16% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 23% | 19% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 27% | 25% |
| What stands out | Elk Creek | KY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.3% | 18.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.5% | 15.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The biggest natural risk in Elk Creek is inland flooding, at a moderate overall level
FEMA puts 50% of Elk Creek’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 27% to tornadoes. Compared with 59% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage here is higher. One declared disaster, in 2004, has brought federal aid to Elk Creek households.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Compared with most of Kentucky and the rest of the country, more of Elk Creek’s households live in a home they own
A home in Elk Creek typically sold within 67 days of listing. The median sale price was $639,000 in May 2026. Bidding over the asking price: a quarter of homes sold here.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Elk Creek
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Elk Creek
About 1 of every 100 Elk Creek residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Kentucky.
Questions about Elk Creek
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Elk Creek, KY a good place to live?
Public schools that outperform most of Kentucky.
Is Elk Creek, KY expensive?
The typical home is worth about $405,000, 75% above the Kentucky typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.