Anderson County, KY
County Profile
24,353 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Anderson County, KY.
Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.
Unemployment is 5.1% and median household income $74,488, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.
In the public schools here, 39% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.9 students for every teacher.
Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 158 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 82% on the prior year.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 5.1% is lower than 19% of the 1,255 measured US locations.
Employment grew 1.5% over the past year, to 11,371 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$5,424 | $74,488 | Top 27%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2,337 | $35,735 | Top 46%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 11.5% | Bottom 35%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 31.6 min | Top 17%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 26.2% | Top 34%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 11,371 | Bottom 6%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | 5.0% | Top 9%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | 1.5% | Top 9%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 11,985 | Bottom 6%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 60.3% | Top 42%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.3% | Top 37%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 5.1% | Top 19%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
Schools
How it’s calculated →39% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 46% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 15.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson County High School | Anderson County | 1,157 | 18.1 | — | — |
| Anderson County Middle School | Anderson County | 768 | 17.5 | 37% | 57% |
| Robert B. Turner Elementary School | Anderson County | 578 | 15.6 | 46% | 44% |
| Emma B. Ward Elementary School | Anderson County | 452 | 12.9 | 41% | 44% |
| Saffell Street Elementary School | Anderson County | 375 | 14.4 | 31% | 30% |
| Ezra Sparrow Early Childhood Center | Anderson County | 303 | 13.2 | — | — |
| Kentucky TECH - Anderson County Tech Ctr | Anderson County | 0 | — | — | — |
49.8% 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 $927 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 3.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 3.02 | Top 47%of 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 77.6% | Top 32%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±37 | 10,326 | Bottom 44%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$35 | $927 | Top 40%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$8,884 | $225,100 | Top 35%of 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 14.9% | Bottom 25%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 6.5% | Bottom 12%of 3,222 | 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 →An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has grown 4% since 2020, reaching 24,883 in 2024.
Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.
Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 5% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 6.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.
Weather & climate
7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 25°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 47.3 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 47.3" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 25°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 88°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 7 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 43°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.
Overall hazard risk is lower than 74% of measured US locations.
Low or minimal exposure: ice storm, winter weather, landslide, lightning, cold wave, heat wave, hurricane, drought, wildfire.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. 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.
Anderson County records 3.9 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 14.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 23.2 per 100,000 residents in Anderson 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 Anderson 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 Anderson County rather than Anderson County 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
- Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
- Taxes and full cost of living
- No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.
Access
2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 42 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisville Muhammad Ali Intl | SDF | 42 mi | 11,887 ft |
| Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Intl | CVG | 74 mi | 10,000 ft |
| Wilmington Air Park | ILN | 117 mi | 10,701 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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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 |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| 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.