FlatwoodsKY
A town of 7,439, settled in 1938. Public schools that outperform most of Kentucky.
Is Flatwoods a good place to live?
Flatwoods gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $153K, 2.5 years of the Huntington metro’s $60K median household income. It grades A overall, ranked 24th of 138 in Kentucky. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 80% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, and the median household income is $60K, and 18% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, its schools rank ahead of 94% of Kentucky towns. Only 22 of Kentucky’s 238 towns score higher on hazard risk. Flatwoods reports less crime per resident than 91% of U.S. towns. On history, just 21 of Kentucky’s 238 towns do worse.
What makes Flatwoods stand out
Where Flatwoods beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Russell Primary School | PK–2 | 494 |
| Russell-McDowell Intermediate School | 3–5 | 442 |
| Russell Middle School | 6–8 | 488 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
94% of working residents leave Flatwoods for work
Where Flatwoods’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Flatwoods grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kentucky), ordered by how far Flatwoods is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Flatwoods: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Flatwoods, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Flatwoods.
Flatwoods pairs an A overall with homes cheaper than the Kentucky norm, pairs an A for schools with modest home prices and has milder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of Kentucky.
Flatwoods’ grade for schools is an A
Its A for schools comes with an A− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $153K.
Its public schools are run by the Russell Independent school district. Three of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Russell High School, with 615 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russell Primary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 494 | – |
| Russell High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 615 | A− |
| Russell Middle SchoolTop results in townGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 488 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KY on state tests and graduation
Flatwoods’ grade for safety is an A
Violent crime is rare: 4 reported in 2025, 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
At 2.9 per 1,000 residents, Flatwoods’ property crime rate is against 8.3 in Kentucky’s towns and 9.9 across U.S. towns. The violent crime rate in Flatwoods is 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Flatwoods | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.9 per 1,000 residents | 8.3 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 1.3 | 1.6 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Flatwoods’ grade for health is a C−
43% of Flatwoods adults have obesity, where Kentucky’s towns sit at 39% and U.S. towns at 35%. 16% of Flatwoods adults report frequent physical distress. Flatwoods beats the Kentucky average on 3 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 5.
| Flatwoods | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 39% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 15% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 38% | 35% |
| What stands out | Flatwoods | KY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13.2% | 15.5% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.2% | 11.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.2% | 8.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Low risk in Flatwoods, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 79% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 17 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Flatwoods.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Flatwoods’ grade for cost of living is an A−
Flatwoods grades A overall with a typical home of about $153K, below the Kentucky typical value; only 7 of the 30 Kentucky towns graded A− or better can say that. At 2.5 years of the Huntington metro’s $60K median household income, the typical home (about $153K) costs less against local pay than in 91% of Kentucky towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living.
Typical home values rose 5.8% in the year to September 2026. 75% of households own their home in Flatwoods.
| Flatwoods | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 75% | 59% | 73% |
| Median rent | $940 a month | $930 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Flatwoods’ workers commute out
Most working residents leave Flatwoods for work: only 6% work in town. Flatwoods’ average trip to work is 20 minutes. Since 2013, Flatwoods has added 123 jobs, to 1,282 in 2023.
| Flatwoods | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.3% | 15% | 8% |
| Median household income | $60,000 | $59,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Flatwoods has four seasons and pleasant summers
January nights average 23.9°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 84% of Kentucky places with climate records; July afternoons average 86.9°.
Flatwoods has chilly winters and warm summers. About 7 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Flatwoods | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 87°F | 87°F | 85°F |
| January low | 24°F | 25°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
0.1% of Flatwoods is conserved land
Just 3 of its 3,022 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Flatwoods itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
0.6 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Among 121 Kentucky towns, just 10 have a lower share of conserved land than Flatwoods.
| Flatwoods | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.1% | 1.8% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Flatwoods Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Wayne National Forest and 4 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Flatwoods. Close and well known come first.
17 mi National forestWayne National Forest
14 mi Theme parkCamden Park
18 mi MuseumHuntington Museum of Art
17 mi MuseumHeritage Farm Museum and Village16 mi MuseumMuseum of Radio and TechnologyPhoto credits
Wayne National Forest: Forest Service, USDA, Public domain · Camden Park: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain · Huntington Museum of Art: Daderot, CC0 · Heritage Farm Museum and Village: Zeo1989, CC BY-SA 4.0
Everything we know about Flatwoods
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Flatwoods
About 4 of every 100 Flatwoods residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Kentucky.
About Flatwoods
City in Kentucky, United States
Flatwoods is a home rule-class city in Greenup County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 7,325 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in Greenup County. Flatwoods is a part of the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area. Locally, Flatwoods is considered to be a bedroom community, as it has no large employer within the city. Many residents work for CSX Transportation, Marathon Petroleum, or King's Daughters Medical Center.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 3.3 sq mi
- Elevation
- 682 ft
- ZIP code
- 41139
- Area code
- 606
Flatwoods’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Flatwoods.
| Town | KY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flatwoods | #24 | A | A− | A | A | C− |
| Russell | #26 | A− | B+ | B+ | A | C+ |
| Raceland | — | — | B+ | A− | C+ | D |
| Westwood | #95 | C | A | — | C | D |
Raceland has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Westwood reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Flatwoods with a neighbor →
Questions about Flatwoods
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Flatwoods, KY a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Flatwoods grades A overall, better than 86% of U.S. towns and #24 of 138 in Kentucky. It grades C− for health, A for safety and A for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Flatwoods, KY expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.