Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 17,868, settled in 1851. A regional job hub with 25,601 jobs.
St. Matthews grades C− overall, ranked 113th of 138 in Kentucky, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. St. Matthews’ property crime rate is 46.1 per 1,000 residents, against 8.2 in Kentucky’s towns and 9.9 across U.S. towns. On cost of living, just 11 of Kentucky’s 238 towns do worse. St. Matthews has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Ridgeway and Theodore Brown House.
Where St. Matthews beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| Widest gap | St. Matthews | KY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.9% | 18.9% |
Where St. Matthews’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kentucky), ordered by how far St. Matthews is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 8,738 in 1960, 17,534 in 2020. The archive holds 7 old photos and papers going back to 1805 and a map from 1986 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around St. Matthews. Close and well known come first.
Big draw31 mi LandmarkUnited States Bullion Depository
7 mi Theme parkKentucky Kingdom
5 mi Stadium & arenaLynn Family Stadium
6 mi Stadium & arenaKFC Yum! Center
7 mi Stadium & arenaL&N Federal Credit Union StadiumUnited States Bullion Depository: Work permit Original author=Cliff, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kentucky Kingdom: Stevietheman at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lynn Family Stadium: Bpluke01, CC BY-SA 4.0 · KFC Yum! Center: Jamesmac96, CC BY 3.0 · L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium: Perthsider, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in St. Matthews, 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 St. Matthews.
St. Matthews is among the three healthiest towns in Kentucky and draws workers from Louisville and beyond, but it reports property crime at 4 times the Kentucky rate.
25,601 jobs are based in St. Matthews, 3 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave St. 7.2% of St. Matthews residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in St. Matthews grew to 25,601 in 2023, 3,664 more than in 2013.
| St. Matthews | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 18% | 10% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.2% | 16% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $82,000 | $59,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Jefferson County school district. Two of its 10 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Matthews ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 598 | B |
| Waggener HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 888 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KY on state tests and graduation
Property crime runs at 46.1 per 1,000 residents, 4 times the Kentucky rate, most of it theft.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
It ranks #3 of the 141 Kentucky towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with Kentucky is tooth loss: 6.9% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 18.9% statewide.
18% of adults get no exercise outside work in St. Matthews. Only 6 of the 141 Kentucky towns we compare have a lower share of adults who smoke cigarettes than St. Matthews. 33% of adults sleep under 7 hours in St. Matthews.
| St. Matthews | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 15% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 18% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 18% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 27% | 25% |
| What stands out | St. Matthews | KY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.9% | 18.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.2% | 15.5% |
| More binge drinkers | 17.3% | 14.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2.7 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is St. Matthews Community Park, 41 acres with 1.1 miles of trail.
| St. Matthews | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.9% | 1.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Brown Park | 1.5 mi | 29 |
| 2. St. Matthews Community Park | 1.1 mi | 41 |
| 3. Arthur K. Draut Park | 0.1 mi | 24 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Matthews has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 26° and about 15 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 65% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 91 flood insurance claims have been paid out in St. Matthews.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The median property tax bill is $3,078, against $1,544 across Kentucky, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
St. Matthews’ median rent is $1,369 a month.
| St. Matthews | Kentucky towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 53% | 59% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,369 a month | $930 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 39% | 44% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
11 within 15 miles of the center of St. Matthews
About 5 of every 100 St. Matthews residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Kentucky.
5 places in St. Matthews on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Kentucky, United States
St. Matthews is a city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States. It forms part of the Louisville Metro government but is separately incorporated as a home rule-class city. As of the 2020 census, St. Matthews had a population of 17,534. It is the 23rd-largest city in the state. St. Matthews is one of the state's major shopping areas, home to the fifth-largest mall in Kentucky (Mall St. Matthews) along with many smaller shopping centers along Shelbyville Road.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with St. Matthews.
| Town | KY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Matthews | #113 | C− | C− | D | D | A |
| Beechwood Village | — | — | C | — | D | A |
| Norwood | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Woodlawn Park | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Graymoor-Devondale | #56 | B− | C | — | D | A− |
| Windy Hills | — | — | C− | — | D | A |
| Lyndon | #115 | C− | C | C− | D | A− |
| Bellewood | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Beechwood Village and Windy Hills have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Beechwood Village, Graymoor-Devondale and Windy Hills report no FBI crime data of their own. Norwood, Woodlawn Park and Bellewood aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare St. Matthews with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
St. Matthews grades C− overall, better than 20% of U.S. towns and #113 of 138 in Kentucky. It grades A for health, D for safety and D for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $338,000, 46% 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 C−.
