The 10 Poorest Cities In Kentucky For 2023


The poorest places in Kentucky are Middlesborough and Somerset for 2023 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


Here are the ten poorest places in Kentucky for 2023:

  1. Middlesborough
  2. Somerset
  3. Morehead
  4. Williamsburg
  5. Mayfield
  6. Lebanon
  7. Leitchfield
  8. Monticello
  9. Glasgow
  10. Murray

What’s the poorest city in Kentucky? According to the facts, Middlesborough is the poorest place in Kentucky for 2023.

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:


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


The 10 Poorest Cities In Kentucky For 2023

1. Middlesborough

Middlesborough, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 9,493
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Median Income: $28,734 (lowest)
Poverty Rate: 32.0% (2nd highest)
People In Poverty: 3,036
More on Middlesborough: Data | Cost Of Living

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

The city of 9,493 people averages the lowest median household income in Kentucky and the 2nd 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. Somerset

Somerset, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 11,696
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 1)
Median Income: $30,107 (2nd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 30.6% (4th highest)
People In Poverty: 3,574
More on Somerset: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

The second poorest city in Kentucky is Somerset.

The city ranks as having the 4th highest incidence of poverty and 2nd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 4th highest in the Bluegrass State.

3. Morehead

Morehead, KY

Source: Wikipedia User W.marsh | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,994
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 2)
Median Income: $33,409 (5th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 35.2% (highest)
People In Poverty: 2,465
More on Morehead: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Placing as the third poorest city, Morehead’s median income ranks as the 5th 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 35.248947238048046% 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. Williamsburg

Williamsburg, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,272
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 4)
Median Income: $31,287 (3rd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 27.9% (6th highest)
People In Poverty: 1,468
More on Williamsburg: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Williamsburg ranks as the fourth poorest place in Kentucky.

The town ranks as having the 3rd lowest median household income and the 6th 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. Mayfield

Mayfield, KY

Source: Flickr User pasa47 | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 10,041
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 1)
Median Income: $37,212 (8th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 29.9% (5th highest)
People In Poverty: 3,006
More on Mayfield: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

The fifth poorest city in Kentucky is Mayfield.

The city ranks as having the 8th 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 5th highest in Kentucky.

Still not the best news for Mayfield.

6. Lebanon

Lebanon, KY

Source: Wikipedia User W.marsh | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,165
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 1)
Median Income: $32,191 (4th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 27.2% (11th highest)
People In Poverty: 1,674
More on Lebanon: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

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

It ranks as having the 11th highest incidence of poverty and the 14th highest unemployment rate.

7. Leitchfield

Leitchfield, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,427
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 1)
Median Income: $37,309 (10th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 27.5% (8th highest)
People In Poverty: 1,765
More on Leitchfield: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Leitchfield places as the seventh poorest city in Kentucky.

The city of over 6,427 ranks as having the 8th 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. Monticello

Monticello, KY

Source: Wikipedia User W.marsh | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,782
Rank Last Year: 7 (Down 1)
Median Income: $40,477 (15th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 30.9% (3rd highest)
People In Poverty: 1,785
More on Monticello: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Monticello ranks as the eighth poorest city in Kentucky.

The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as the 7th highest in the state.

9. Glasgow

Glasgow, KY

Source: Wikipedia User Ichabod | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 14,922
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 1)
Median Income: $38,669 (11th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 27.3% (10th highest)
People In Poverty: 4,071
More on Glasgow: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

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

While the median income is the 11th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Glasgow ranks as having the 10th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Kentucky.

10. Murray

Murray, KY

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

6
/10

Population: 17,241
Rank Last Year: 9 (Down 1)
Median Income: $35,966 (6th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 22.8% (2highest)
People In Poverty: 3,933
More on Murray: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

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

The city of 17,241 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 2023

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 2017-2021 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, Middlesborough, crowned the “Poorest Place In Kentucky For 2023”.

This report has been updated for 2023, which is our tenth time ranking the poorest places in Kentucky.

Summary: The Poorest Cities In Kentucky For 2023

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

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 Middlesborough 9,493 32.0% $28,734 3,036
2 Somerset 11,696 30.6% $30,107 3,574
3 Morehead 6,994 35.2% $33,409 2,465
4 Williamsburg 5,272 27.9% $31,287 1,468
5 Mayfield 10,041 29.9% $37,212 3,006
6 Lebanon 6,165 27.2% $32,191 1,674
7 Leitchfield 6,427 27.5% $37,309 1,765
8 Monticello 5,782 30.9% $40,477 1,785
9 Glasgow 14,922 27.3% $38,669 4,071
10 Murray 17,241 22.8% $35,966 3,933
11 London 7,492 27.4% $41,795 2,050
12 Pikeville 7,376 27.1% $41,094 1,998
13 Cynthiana 6,291 27.7% $42,642 1,744
14 Richmond 34,662 24.3% $40,221 8,411
15 Russellville 7,068 22.4% $36,907 1,582
16 Maysville 8,851 21.9% $40,212 1,942
17 Highland Heights 6,896 24.9% $42,929 1,717
18 Bowling Green 71,422 25.5% $43,633 18,245
19 Hopkinsville 30,771 20.4% $40,442 6,273
20 Paducah 26,248 22.7% $42,024 5,958
21 Mount Sterling 7,517 23.7% $44,676 1,780
22 Newport 14,378 23.2% $44,095 3,329
23 Oak Grove 7,699 16.3% $37,297 1,256
24 Ashland 21,695 23.0% $45,414 4,979
25 Shively 15,638 18.2% $41,104 2,853
26 Covington 40,930 23.9% $47,917 9,782
27 Henderson 28,201 20.0% $43,413 5,641
28 Madisonville 19,533 22.6% $46,816 4,415
29 Corbin 8,397 21.4% $45,307 1,795
30 Princeton 6,206 16.6% $41,506 1,031
31 Campbellsville 11,345 21.5% $47,603 2,437
32 Hazard 5,236 26.7% $55,543 1,400
33 Danville 17,164 17.6% $44,026 3,027
34 Owensboro 59,839 20.2% $47,411 12,086
35 Winchester 18,993 19.6% $47,034 3,728
36 Harrodsburg 8,952 15.5% $41,839 1,383
37 Radcliff 22,839 18.2% $48,325 4,146
38 Berea 15,465 17.7% $49,974 2,741
39 Paris 10,202 15.6% $45,427 1,589
40 Dayton 5,641 19.6% $55,130 1,105
41 Franklin 9,885 16.4% $51,324 1,620
42 Wilmore 6,025 16.7% $54,423 1,004
43 Frankfort 28,479 16.3% $51,731 4,645
44 Shepherdsville 13,918 18.7% $62,055 2,607
45 Bardstown 13,425 12.7% $49,298 1,705
46 Central City 5,958 16.3% $56,316 969
47 Lawrenceburg 11,675 14.3% $52,808 1,670
48 Flatwoods 7,314 14.8% $54,673 1,081
49 Elizabethtown 31,066 12.0% $51,875 3,718
50 Nicholasville 31,066 14.9% $56,790 4,625
51 Lexington 321,354 15.7% $61,526 50,498
52 Louisville 630,260 15.2% $58,357 96,084
53 Elsmere 9,080 13.7% $57,459 1,246
54 Versailles 10,196 9.7% $51,985 988
55 Georgetown 36,281 12.3% $66,942 4,470
56 Bellevue 5,578 12.4% $69,135 691
57 Hillview 8,638 8.5% $58,827 735
58 Erlanger 19,506 10.6% $68,769 2,073
59 Lyndon 11,033 8.1% $61,078 889
60 Shelbyville 16,932 9.9% $70,751 1,670
61 Taylor Mill 6,834 9.8% $73,422 668
62 Vine Grove 6,397 8.2% $70,417 523
63 Florence 31,699 7.7% $64,718 2,447
64 Middletown 9,473 8.8% $73,638 831
65 La Grange 9,901 9.7% $74,832 958
66 St. Matthews 17,588 8.0% $72,910 1,406
67 Independence 28,256 7.7% $82,846 2,189
68 Fort Mitchell 8,618 3.4% $72,669 295
69 Jeffersontown 28,800 6.5% $75,985 1,861
70 Mount Washington 17,723 7.2% $83,216 1,281
71 Cold Spring 6,208 5.2% $73,732 323
72 Walton 5,333 5.6% $79,464 296
73 Crestwood 6,046 7.4% $98,797 448
74 Fort Thomas 17,241 5.9% $85,938 1,018
75 Alexandria 10,125 7.0% $88,777 704
76 Fort Wright 5,845 4.4% $87,197 257
77 Douglass Hills 5,480 2.8% $83,592 151
78 Villa Hills 7,331 3.4% $99,886 250
79 Edgewood 8,427 3.2% $109,909 270
80 Union 7,227 1.4% $128,050 103
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 2023

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

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