Boyd County, KY

County Profile

47,911 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Boyd 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.

49out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 16% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
Opportunity954th of 1,463 counties measured47
Schools934th of 1,377 counties measured36
Growth1,366th of 1,453 counties measured22
Housing affordabilityTop 44% of 1,462 counties measured75
ClimateTop 22% of 1,463 counties measured75
Physical resilience881st of 1,463 counties measured52
Access1,403rd of 1,463 counties measured36
Economic stability1,288th of 1,463 counties measured27
The quick read

Unemployment is 5.8% and median household income $61,118, putting employment conditions in the middle range of counties measured.

In the public schools here, 41% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.7 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 1 units authorized over the past twelve months, against 11 the year before. That follows a longer stretch moving the other way, through 2025.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
47,911
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$61,118
Bottom 39% nationally
Density
300/sq mi
159.9 sq mi of land
Median age
42.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Boyd County
Kentucky
Nearest major airport
ILN
95 mi · Wilmington Air Park
Median home value
$130,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.8% — higher than in all but 9% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 1.7% over the past year, to 18,655 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$50,40923rd percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$47,35615th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$3,2962024 ACS 5-Year$61,118Bottom 39%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,3702024 ACS 5-Year$31,752Bottom 34%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$49,188Bottom 21%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year16.5%Bottom 28%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.1 min2024 ACS 5-Year22.7 minTop 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year20.0%Bottom 38%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year80.7%74th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202618,655Bottom 29%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+5.6%Top 7%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+1.7%Top 14%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202619,81329th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year66.3%Bottom 16%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.1%44th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.3%Top 42%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20265.8%Bottom 9%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year5.9%25th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/076.84.1
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.8% in July 2026. It has been falling, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202461k53k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $61,118 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

Largest occupations — Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Registered Nurses5,580$81,010
Retail Salespersons4,290$28,220
Home Health and Personal Care Aides3,620$28,740
Cashiers3,510$27,080
General and Operations Managers3,310$77,350
Cooks, Fast Food3,070$22,610

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

41% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 53% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.7 students for every full-time teacher across 18 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
23
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.7
across 18 of them
Math proficiency
41.2%
Bottom 21% in Kentucky
Reading proficiency
52.8%
Bottom 37% in Kentucky
The 12 largest of 23 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Boyd County High SchoolBoyd County88816.132%42%
Paul G. Blazer High SchoolAshland Independent82113.541%50%
Ashland Middle SchoolAshland Independent67114.346%59%
Boyd County Middle SchoolBoyd County61814.737%60%
Summit Elementary SchoolBoyd County42513.337%59%
Ponderosa Elementary SchoolBoyd County35913.357%57%
Hager Elementary SchoolAshland Independent34416.467%72%
Poage Elementary SchoolAshland Independent30412.252%62%
Cannonsburg Elementary SchoolBoyd County27211.842%47%
Fairview Elementary SchoolFairview Independent27112.932%37%
Crabbe Elementary SchoolAshland Independent27014.227%37%
Oakview Elementary SchoolAshland Independent26711.147%57%

62.8% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Kentucky’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 12% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 88.1, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metro Area is up 45% over five years, and up 8.4% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,156 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.88% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $973, some 15% above the $849 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $973 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $38,900 a year, about 64% of the median household income here of $61,118.

The typical renter household here spends 29% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $849 a month.

A median home at $130,700 costs 1.8 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $74,135, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
88.1

Prices here run about 12% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
29.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.8×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$973
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$849
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$130,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Boyd County’s median household income of $61,118, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metro Area’s figure202388.1Top 8%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+8.4%98th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+44.9%50th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+66.3%9th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year1.8Top 12%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year70.2%30th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±412024 ACS 5-Year21,74267th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$853Top 35%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,249Top 17%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$973Top 18%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$592024 ACS 5-Year$849Top 45%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$9,6952024 ACS 5-Year$130,70022nd percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$632024 ACS 5-Year$1,15631st percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$3,7792024 ACS 5-Year$74,135Bottom 44%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.08%2024 ACS 5-Year0.88%57th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year29.0%Bottom 37%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1172024 ACS 5-Year21037th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.0%24th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year10.2%58th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±4022024 ACS 5-Year2,43361st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

22/ 100
Ranks 1,366 of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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 fallen 1% since 2020, to 47,777 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 1 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Boyd County gained about 0.4% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $50,409, above the $47,356 of households that moved out.

At 0.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
1
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 1% nationally
Year over year
−91%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202448k48k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.4%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
53%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$50,409
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$47,356
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Greenup County, KY 494 people · 23% of arrivals
  2. Lawrence County, OH 243 people · 11% of arrivals
  3. Carter County, KY 156 people · 7.2% of arrivals
  4. Cabell County, WV 125 people · 5.8% of arrivals
  5. Wayne County, WV 112 people · 5.2% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Greenup County, KY 496 people · 25% of departures
  2. Lawrence County, OH 220 people · 11% of departures
  3. Carter County, KY 186 people · 9.2% of departures
  4. Lawrence County, KY 93 people · 4.6% of departures
  5. Cabell County, WV 91 people · 4.5% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025100.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+900%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 26°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.1 inches, including 19.8 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 42, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station HUNTINGTON TRI STATE AP, 6.9 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year562024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals45.1"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals19.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals26°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year02024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year422024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals42°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
42
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
56
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

52 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, heat wave and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 64% of it. Heat wave and tornado are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

Inland floodingElevated
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, landslide, ice storm, wildfire, winter weather, earthquake, lightning, hail, tornado, hurricane, strong wind, drought, tsunami, volcanic activity, coastal flooding, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Boyd County has a modeled homicide rate of about 3.0 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 14.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 73.2 per 100,000 residents in Boyd County.

Homicide
3.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.1
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
73.2
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
16.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Boyd County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest Wilmington Air Park at 95 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year87.1%Top 48%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle95 miBottom 4%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle1Bottom 3%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year8.1%Top 32%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Wilmington Air ParkILN95 mi10,701 ft
Rickenbacker IntlLCK101 mi11,902 ft
John Glenn Columbus IntlCMH114 mi10,114 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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Area Score
49
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
Housing, IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Boyd County, KY

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.