Frankfort, the state capital · Photo: Mobilus In Mobili · CC BY-SA 2.0How Kentucky stacks up
Kentucky beats every neighbor (Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee) on safety and commuting. The good news is low crime (violent crime 35% below the national figure) and strong schools; the bad news, poor health (22% of adults in fair or poor health). Across all eight subjects, Kentucky lands 10th (A−).
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
11th of 51A−80/100 Low crime overall. Kentucky reports 214 violent crimes per 100,000 people, against 329 nationally. Its larger places pull the town measure down: Louisville and Owensboro sit in the national bottom quarter. No neighbor beats it on safety; Ohio comes closest.
Add property crime, weighted as our town grades weigh it, and it ranks 10th lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 42 Kentucky towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally.
Where most people live, crime runs higher
St. Matthews lands in the high-crime quarter on property crime; its violent-crime rate is below the typical U.S. town’s. At the safe end sit Independence (#134), Mount Washington (#260) and Fort Thomas (#277) in the national ranking of towns of 10,000+. The quarter reporting the most crime per resident takes in Florence, Hopkinsville and Paducah.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Kentucky | 10% | 48% |
Very little left out
Town figures come from each police department’s own reports to the FBI, and a town needs enough of the last three years reported to count. That covers 98% of the people in Kentucky’s towns of 10,000+. In Burlington, Fort Campbell North, Francisville and one other places, county or state police answer the calls, so there is no town figure. Next door, coverage runs from 42% in Indiana to 97% in Tennessee.
Schools
12th of 51A−78/100 Better schools than most states. 16% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 7% in a bottom-quarter one; Fort Thomas ranks highest. Kentucky’s students rank 23rd lowest on the Nation’s Report Card: 31% reach Proficient.
Graduation: 91.4% finish high school on time (class of 2023), 2nd highest. The grade weighs test results and graduation equally.
Per-pupil spending, $14,752 (17th lowest), is shown for context and not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 44 Kentucky towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally. Covers 62% of residents of Kentucky’s 10,000+ towns.
Cost of living
6th of 51A90/100 Affordable, town after town. Nearly every larger town does well here, Erlanger and Paris among them. Kentucky homeowners pay a typical $1,544 a year in property tax (8th lowest).
A typical home costs 3.2 years of median household income, 12th lowest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 46 Kentucky towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
45th of 51D12/100 Less healthy than most states. CDC estimates put 22% of adults in fair or poor health, the 8th highest share among the states. Even its best town, St. Matthews, ranks #810 of 5,218 nationally.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 45 Kentucky towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally. Covers 62% of residents of Kentucky’s 10,000+ towns.
Housing
34th of 51C34/100 A few more renters than average. Kentucky ranks 20th highest for home ownership, at 68% of homes. Its larger towns trail the statewide figure, which also counts rural areas. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Alexandria ranks highest, at #183.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 46 Kentucky towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
31st of 51C+40/100 Somewhat more exposed than average. Its larger places pull the town measure down: Louisville and Bowling Green sit in the national bottom quarter. Kentucky ranks 13th highest for expected hazard damage: $169 a year per $100,000 of buildings. Expect inland flooding above all; it makes up 75% of FEMA’s estimate.
Federal major-disaster declarations since 2015: 22, 2nd most.
Behind the figure: inland flooding 75%, earthquake 9%, tornado 7% of FEMA’s expected losses.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 46 Kentucky towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
17th of 51B+68/100 Commutes a bit quicker than most. The average trip to work takes 24.0 minutes, 2 minutes shorter than the national average. Almost no one here lives in a bottom-quarter town; Murray and Paducah are typical. Fort Campbell North is among the ten best towns in the country for commute times (#4).
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 46 Kentucky towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
35th of 51C32/100 Slower than the country. Permits point the other way: 6.5 new homes per 1,000 residents in 2025 (14th most). At +3.8% from 2010 to 2020, growth here was the 18th slowest among the states. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Mount Washington ranks highest, at #64.
Building: 6.5 new homes permitted per 1,000 residents in 2025, 14th most.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 46 Kentucky towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Kentucky compares to its neighbors
Against Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, Kentucky leads on safety and the commute.
| Kentucky | Indiana | Ohio | West Virginia | Virginia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A− 8210th of 51 | A+ 982nd of 51 | A 868th of 51 | C 2837th of 51 | A− 7812th of 51 |
| Safety | A− 809th official · 10% in top towns | B+ 6625th official · 20% in top towns | B+ 6823rd official · 19% in top towns | C 3222nd official · 0% in top towns | B 587th official · 3% in top towns |
| Schools | A− 7829th official · 16% in top towns | A 927th official · 38% in top towns | A− 8210th official · 31% in top towns | B− 4849th official · 4% in top towns | A− 8021st official · 17% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A 908th official · 33% in top towns | A 9410th official · 69% in top towns | B 6429th official · 48% in top towns | A+ 1002nd official · 96% in top towns | C+ 4427th official · 10% in top towns |
| Health | D 1244th official · 3% in top towns | C 2639th official · 10% in top towns | C+ 3632nd official · 12% in top towns | D− 051st official · 0% in top towns | B+ 7420th official · 32% in top towns |
| Housing | C 3420th official · 4% in top towns | A 8612th official · 13% in top towns | B 5628th official · 19% in top towns | A− 801st official · 8% in top towns | B− 5427th official · 14% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | C+ 4039th official · 7% in top towns | B+ 7213th official · 21% in top towns | A 887th official · 50% in top towns | D 1047th official · 5% in top towns | A 908th official · 72% in top towns |
| Commute | B+ 6820th official · 40% in top towns | B 5621st official · 35% in top towns | B 6016th official · 29% in top towns | B− 5238th official · 75% in top towns | C− 2042nd official · 13% in top towns |
| Growth | C 3234th official · 15% in top towns | B− 4830th official · 21% in top towns | C 3046th official · 23% in top towns | D− 451st official · 3% in top towns | B− 5419th official · 19% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work