Bardstown, Kentucky
Area Profile
13,804 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Bardstown, in Nelson County.
Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.
Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 5.5% and the Opportunity signal places Bardstown in the bottom 8%.
In the public schools here, 24% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 17.1 students for every teacher.
Rent takes 23% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 4.0 times that income.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 5.5% is lower than 13% of the 3,904 measured US cities.
Employment fell 1.8% over the past year, to 22,183 employed residents.
Median household income of $51,381 is below 75% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$7,022 | $51,381 | Bottom 25% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$3,249 | $31,358 | Bottom 42% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 14.7% | Top 37% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 22.4 min | Bottom 27% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 26.7% | Top 36% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 22,183 | Bottom 28% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | 0.6% | Top 41% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -1.8% | Bottom 24% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 23,465 | Bottom 28% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 63.0% | Top 42% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $62,310 | Bottom 23% | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $48,370 | Bottom 24% | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.9% | Top 6% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 5.5% | Top 13% | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 29,400 | $46,830 |
| Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators | 20,920 | $48,440 |
| Registered Nurses | 18,180 | $84,850 |
| Retail Salespersons | 17,540 | $30,660 |
| General and Operations Managers | 16,830 | $89,140 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 16,410 | $37,610 |
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Nelson County, KY, which contains this city.
Schools
How it’s calculated →24% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 46% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 17.1 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bardstown Elementary School | Bardstown Independent | 847 | 15.7 | 37% | 46% |
| Nelson County High School | Nelson County | 756 | 16.4 | — | — |
| Bardstown High School | Bardstown Independent | 703 | 18.5 | — | — |
| Thomas Nelson High School | Nelson County | 629 | 19.7 | — | — |
| Old Kentucky Home Middle School | Nelson County | 594 | 19.2 | 12% | 52% |
| Bardstown Middle School | Bardstown Independent | 591 | 16.9 | 27% | 57% |
| Foster Heights Elementary School | Nelson County | 588 | 13.7 | 12% | 27% |
| Bardstown Primary School | Bardstown Independent | 434 | 15.5 | — | — |
| Bardstown Early Childhood Center | Bardstown Independent | 263 | 26.3 | — | — |
| Nelson County Early Learning Center | Nelson County | 150 | 50.0 | — | — |
| The Academy at Horizons | Nelson County | 38 | 4.8 | — | — |
| THE UP CENTER | Nelson County | 0 | — | — | — |
51.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Kentucky’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $977 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 4.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 3.96 | Top 28% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 61.1% | Bottom 22% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±312 | 5,820 | Top 10% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$104 | $977 | Top 50% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$25,170 | $203,500 | Top 46% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 22.8% | Top 26% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 2.5% | Bottom 17% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →Population has grown 4% since 2020, reaching 14,104 in 2024.
No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.
Weather & climate
7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 26°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 51.6 inches, including 11.9 inches of snow.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 51.6" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall | 11.9" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 26°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 87°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 7 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 42°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and strong wind.
Low or minimal exposure: lightning, winter weather, ice storm, heat wave, hail, landslide, drought, hurricane, wildfire.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
Safety
How it’s measured →These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
Nelson County records 3.3 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.
Firearm deaths of all intents run at 16.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 12.6 per 100,000 residents in Nelson County.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.
Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Nelson County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Bardstown rather than Bardstown itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
- Taxes
- No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Full cost of living
- No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.
Access
3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 29 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisville Muhammad Ali Intl | SDF | 29 mi | 11,887 ft |
| Owensboro/Daviess County Rgnl | OWB | 94 mi | 8,000 ft |
| Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Intl | CVG | 95 mi | 10,000 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Other cities in Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
Same metropolitan area, measured the same way| City | County | Population | Area Score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisville/Jefferson County | Jefferson County | 631,818 | — | vs Bardstown |
| Jeffersonville | Clark County | 51,043 | 69 | vs Bardstown |
| New Albany | Floyd County | 37,581 | 64 | vs Bardstown |
| Jeffersontown | Jefferson County | 29,199 | 57 | vs Bardstown |
| Clarksville | Clark County | 22,016 | 66 | vs Bardstown |
| Mount Washington | Bullitt County | 18,480 | — | vs Bardstown |
| Shelbyville | Shelby County | 17,668 | — | vs Bardstown |
| St. Matthews | Jefferson County | 17,577 | — | vs Bardstown |
| Shively | Jefferson County | 15,638 | — | vs Bardstown |
| Shepherdsville | Bullitt County | 14,533 | — | vs Bardstown |
| Lyndon | Jefferson County | 11,030 | — | vs Bardstown |
| La Grange | Oldham County | 10,311 | — | vs Bardstown |
Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.
Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyCompare
Put Bardstown side by side with a similar place.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.
ZIP codes in Bardstown
1 published ZIP profiles| ZIP | Population | Median household income | Area Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40004 | 30,601 | $66,578 | — |