Kentucky cities

The best places to live in Kentucky

Kentucky's largest cities ranked on cost, safety, schools, jobs and quality of life. Burlington leads the list.

We scored Kentucky's cities on the same factors as our state rankings, then ranked them. Below are the 10 largest by population. Two scores per city: value (what you get for the cost) and overall livability (everything combined). Tap any city for its full profile.

#CityMedian homeRentValueOverall
7 Georgetown $186,300 $998 66 68
8 Florence $158,800 $999 70 64
10 Elizabethtown $180,400 $804 44 61
12 Lexington-Fayette urban county $216,800 $967 42 55
14 Louisville/Jefferson County metro government $174,400 $931 44 51
16 Covington $130,500 $781 46 46
18 Nicholasville $160,900 $845 42 43
20 Bowling Green $171,600 $842 20 40
22 Owensboro $131,600 $828 44 36
29 Richmond $157,200 $759 15 18

Compare Kentucky with another state

See what you'd need to earn to live the same way somewhere else.

Open the salary calculator ›

‹ Back to the Kentucky state profile

Sources: Home prices and rent from Zillow; income and jobs from the U.S. Census; schools from state education data; crime from the FBI; air quality from the EPA. Rankings are within Kentucky. Updated 2026.