The 10 Poorest Cities In Kentucky For 2024


The poorest places in Kentucky are Morehead and Williamsburg for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Like all states, Kentucky has certain places that are going on hard times. These Kentucky places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.

Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Kentucky.

To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 80 cities in Kentucky with more than 5,000 people.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


Poorest Places In Kentucky Map

What’s the poorest city in Kentucky? According to the facts, Morehead is the poorest place in Kentucky for 2024.

This isn’t a commentary on the people that live there or the vibrant culture and traditions of these places. Instead, it’s just a look at the facts.

For more Kentucky reading, check out:

The 10 Poorest Cities In Kentucky For 2024

1. Morehead

Morehead, KY

Source: Wikipedia User W.marsh | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 7,001
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Median Income: $32,020 (lowest)
Poverty Rate: 34.5% (highest)
People In Poverty: 2,418
More on Morehead: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Morehead, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Kentucky thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.

The city of 7,001 people averages the lowest median household income in Kentucky and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.

2. Williamsburg

Williamsburg, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,229
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 2)
Median Income: $33,875 (3rd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 33.0% (2nd highest)
People In Poverty: 1,724
More on Williamsburg: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

The second poorest city in Kentucky is Williamsburg.

The city ranks as having the 2nd highest incidence of poverty and 3rd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 2nd highest in the Bluegrass State.

3. Somerset

Somerset, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 11,998
Rank Last Year: 3 (No Change)
Median Income: $33,245 (2nd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 29.1% (8th highest)
People In Poverty: 3,495
More on Somerset: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Placing as the third poorest city, Somerset’s median income ranks as the 2nd lowest.

And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 29.13% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.

But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Bluegrass State.

4. Lebanon

Lebanon, KY

Source: Wikipedia User W.marsh | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,274
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 2)
Median Income: $37,500 (6th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 32.2% (5th highest)
People In Poverty: 2,018
More on Lebanon: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Lebanon ranks as the fourth poorest place in Kentucky.

The town ranks as having the 6th lowest median household income and the 5th highest incidence of poverty in the state.

That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.

5. Middlesborough

Middlesborough, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 9,383
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 4)
Median Income: $35,798 (4th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 29.1% (7th highest)
People In Poverty: 2,735
More on Middlesborough: Data | Cost Of Living

The fifth poorest city in Kentucky is Middlesborough.

The city ranks as having the 4th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 7th highest in Kentucky.

Still not the best news for Middlesborough.

6. Mayfield

Mayfield, KY

Source: Flickr User pasa47 | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 10,011
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 1)
Median Income: $42,589 (10th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 32.7% (4th highest)
People In Poverty: 3,272
More on Mayfield: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Mayfield ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Bluegrass State.

It ranks as having the 4th highest incidence of poverty and the 29th highest unemployment rate.

7. Monticello

Monticello, KY

Source: Wikipedia User W.marsh | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,770
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 1)
Median Income: $43,353 (12th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 32.9% (3rd highest)
People In Poverty: 1,896
More on Monticello: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Monticello places as the seventh poorest city in Kentucky.

The city of over 5,770 ranks as having the 3rd highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.

8. Murray

Murray, KY

Source: Wikipedia User Thelatchkeykid at English Wikipedia | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 17,414
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 2)
Median Income: $37,421 (5th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 25.3% (11th highest)
People In Poverty: 4,400
More on Murray: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Murray ranks as the eighth poorest city in Kentucky.

The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.

9. Pikeville

Pikeville, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 7,563
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 2)
Median Income: $41,324 (9th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 25.1% (13th highest)
People In Poverty: 1,896
More on Pikeville: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Pikeville couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Kentucky; it ranks number 9.

While the median income is the 9th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Pikeville ranks as having the 13th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Kentucky.

10. Maysville

Maysville, KY

Source: Wikipedia User Nealparr at English Wikipedia | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 8,831
Rank Last Year: 16 (Up 6)
Median Income: $41,171 (8th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 23.6% (15th highest)
People In Poverty: 2,088
More on Maysville: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Kentucky is Maysville.

The city of 8,831 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Bluegrass State.

Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest Places In Kentucky for 2024

The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.

However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2018-2022 American Community Survey:

  • Poverty Level
  • Median Household Income

After we collected the data for all 80 places with more than 5,000 people in Kentucky, we ranked each place from 1 to 80 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.

We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Morehead, crowned the “Poorest Place In Kentucky For 2024”.

This report has been updated for 2024, which is our tenth time ranking the poorest places in Kentucky.

Summary: The Poorest Cities In Kentucky For 2024

Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Kentucky, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Kentucky.

When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.

If you’re curious enough, here are the richest cities in Kentucky, according to data:

    Richest: Edgewood
    2nd Richest: Villa Hills
    3rd Richest: Union

For more Kentucky reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Poorest Places To Live In Kentucky

Rank City Population Poverty Rate Median Income People In Poverty
1 Morehead 7,001 34.5% $32,020 2,418
2 Williamsburg 5,229 33.0% $33,875 1,724
3 Somerset 11,998 29.1% $33,245 3,495
4 Lebanon 6,274 32.2% $37,500 2,018
5 Middlesborough 9,383 29.1% $35,798 2,735
6 Mayfield 10,011 32.7% $42,589 3,272
7 Monticello 5,770 32.9% $43,353 1,896
8 Murray 17,414 25.3% $37,421 4,400
9 Pikeville 7,563 25.1% $41,324 1,896
10 Maysville 8,831 23.6% $41,171 2,088
11 London 7,612 26.2% $45,858 1,997
12 Leitchfield 6,432 22.8% $43,214 1,469
13 Bowling Green 72,385 26.6% $47,118 19,268
14 Richmond 34,883 22.2% $45,457 7,754
15 Highland Heights 6,566 21.6% $44,910 1,416
16 Mount Sterling 7,532 25.1% $47,408 1,889
17 Cynthiana 6,355 23.5% $46,601 1,492
18 Glasgow 15,043 20.8% $44,125 3,122
19 Hopkinsville 31,042 20.4% $43,577 6,320
20 Paducah 26,869 22.3% $46,984 6,002
21 Henderson 28,166 20.8% $46,276 5,850
22 Newport 14,190 22.9% $50,278 3,256
23 Russellville 7,186 19.3% $45,484 1,389
24 Paris 10,143 19.9% $46,752 2,015
25 Shively 15,595 19.1% $45,953 2,970
26 Covington 40,923 23.3% $53,770 9,539
27 Ashland 21,542 21.1% $51,250 4,536
28 Oak Grove 7,895 14.7% $40,740 1,158
29 Corbin 8,611 20.9% $52,929 1,799
30 Hazard 5,194 29.7% $65,846 1,541
31 Winchester 19,080 19.5% $50,982 3,714
32 Madisonville 19,433 21.0% $54,234 4,084
33 Campbellsville 11,434 20.6% $53,254 2,354
34 Princeton 6,248 15.6% $46,317 975
35 Danville 17,191 16.9% $48,038 2,912
36 Owensboro 60,019 18.4% $51,982 11,073
37 Berea 15,404 19.4% $54,481 2,983
38 Shepherdsville 14,136 24.4% $71,875 3,444
39 Frankfort 28,460 17.4% $53,905 4,960
40 Harrodsburg 9,057 14.7% $49,293 1,335
41 Central City 5,740 15.6% $52,184 897
42 Flatwoods 7,312 18.0% $58,294 1,316
43 Bardstown 13,564 12.4% $47,654 1,681
44 Franklin 10,141 16.8% $54,784 1,702
45 Radcliff 22,981 16.7% $54,558 3,837
46 Louisville 629,176 15.7% $63,114 98,466
47 Elizabethtown 31,425 14.1% $54,493 4,437
48 Dayton 5,674 15.2% $61,432 861
49 Lawrenceburg 11,749 14.6% $58,935 1,710
50 Versailles 10,297 12.9% $55,606 1,327
51 Nicholasville 31,352 14.4% $61,832 4,524
52 Bellevue 5,596 15.4% $66,741 859
53 Lexington 321,276 14.9% $66,087 47,966
54 Elsmere 9,126 13.3% $61,890 1,218
55 Wilmore 6,017 12.3% $59,848 741
56 Hillview 8,681 10.3% $63,578 892
57 Lyndon 10,997 9.6% $63,806 1,057
58 La Grange 10,073 10.6% $72,265 1,067
59 Erlanger 19,577 10.4% $74,147 2,030
60 Georgetown 37,510 11.2% $74,530 4,197
61 Shelbyville 17,239 9.9% $74,433 1,699
62 Vine Grove 6,611 8.3% $74,035 548
63 Taylor Mill 6,851 12.0% $79,781 824
64 Florence 32,056 7.7% $67,352 2,452
65 Fort Mitchell 8,667 8.2% $74,830 706
66 Middletown 9,594 8.6% $81,881 828
67 St. Matthews 17,511 7.3% $78,928 1,278
68 Cold Spring 6,258 6.8% $76,151 427
69 Jeffersontown 28,796 7.2% $78,929 2,079
70 Independence 28,722 7.9% $92,355 2,257
71 Walton 5,492 6.8% $79,811 372
72 Mount Washington 17,987 6.5% $91,185 1,163
73 Fort Thomas 17,310 5.9% $95,391 1,021
74 Douglass Hills 5,466 3.3% $90,760 179
75 Alexandria 10,322 5.8% $100,938 595
76 Crestwood 6,175 4.9% $110,147 301
77 Fort Wright 5,841 3.2% $105,075 189
78 Union 7,369 4.0% $131,047 291
79 Villa Hills 7,331 3.2% $109,196 236
80 Edgewood 8,447 3.0% $117,308 254
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

4 thoughts on “The 10 Poorest Cities In Kentucky For 2024

  1. Have you ever been to Hazard, Kentucky? It should have been in the top five of the most ghetto.

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