Madison County, KY

County Profile

95,769 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Madison 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.

66out of 100
Area Score
Top 26% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
OpportunityTop 49% of 1,463 counties measured56
Schools744th of 1,377 counties measured47
GrowthTop 8% of 1,453 counties measured75
Housing affordabilityTop 33% of 1,462 counties measured77
ClimateTop 29% of 1,463 counties measured74
Physical resilienceTop 19% of 1,463 counties measured80
Access1,349th of 1,463 counties measured47
Economic stability895th of 1,463 counties measured52
The quick read

Unemployment is 5.9% and median household income $63,351, putting employment conditions in the middle range of counties measured.

In the public schools here, 44% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.1 students for every teacher.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 659 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 25% on the prior year.

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
95,769
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$63,351
Bottom 45% nationally
Density
219/sq mi
437.9 sq mi of land
Median age
34.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Madison County
Kentucky
Nearest major airport
SDF
85 mi · Louisville Muhammad Ali Intl
Median home value
$232,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.9% — higher than in all but 8% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 1.4% over the past year, to 44,716 employed residents.

34% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 85% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$51,35126th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$50,44125th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$3,0052024 ACS 5-Year$63,351Bottom 45%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$9052024 ACS 5-Year$32,828Bottom 39%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$47,338Bottom 14%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year13.4%Bottom 47%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.7 min2024 ACS 5-Year27.3 minBottom 39%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year34.4%Top 15%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year76.4%42nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202644,716Top 42%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+7.4%Top 3%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+1.4%Top 15%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202647,49858th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year76.5%Top 46%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.1%33rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.4%Bottom 19%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20265.9%Bottom 8%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year9.6%59th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/075.93.3
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.9% 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

202120222023202463k55k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $63,351 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.

44% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 56% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.1 students for every full-time teacher across 21 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
23
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.1
across 21 of them
Math proficiency
43.6%
Bottom 39% in Kentucky
Reading proficiency
56.2%
Top 32% in Kentucky
The 12 largest of 23 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Madison Central High SchoolMadison County2,10718.833%48%
Madison Southern High SchoolMadison County1,22418.342%50%
Kirksville Elementary SchoolMadison County66215.851%51%
Kingston Elementary SchoolMadison County60816.452%56%
Madison Middle SchoolMadison County58617.840%58%
Clark Moores Middle SchoolMadison County55816.942%63%
B. Michael Caudill Middle SchoolMadison County51716.762%75%
Silver Creek Elementary SchoolMadison County49014.445%62%
Glenn R Marshall Elementary SchoolMadison County48015.049%51%
Shannon Johnson Elementary SchoolMadison County47315.366%72%
Daniel Boone Elementary SchoolMadison County46913.836%48%
Farristown Middle SchoolMadison County46317.159%73%

54.5% 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.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Kentucky is up 51% over five years, and up 5.6% 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 $1,698 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.73% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $904, close to the $889 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $904 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $36,200 a year, about 57% of the median household income here of $63,351.

The typical renter household here spends 28% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $889 a month.

A median home at $232,000 costs 2.6 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $88,572, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
27.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$904
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$889
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$232,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Madison County’s median household income of $63,351, 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
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Kentucky’s figure2026 Q2+5.6%83rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Kentucky’s figure2026 Q2+50.5%72nd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Kentucky’s figure2026 Q2+91.9%47th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.6Bottom 44%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year62.0%10th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±802024 ACS 5-Year40,45679th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$785Top 22%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,257Top 18%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$904Top 7%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$262024 ACS 5-Year$889Bottom 47%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,7092024 ACS 5-Year$232,00067th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$582024 ACS 5-Year$1,69854th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$3,9622024 ACS 5-Year$88,572Top 26%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.03%2024 ACS 5-Year0.73%44th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year27.9%Bottom 48%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1072024 ACS 5-Year16331st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.4%9th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year8.0%41st percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±5082024 ACS 5-Year3,40570th 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.

Development Momentum

75/ 100
Top 8% of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of a series running from 2020 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 grown 7% since 2020, reaching 99,582 in 2024.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 99,582 residents in 2024, up 2.0% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

Federal tax returns show Madison County gained about 1.8% 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 $51,351, close to the $50,441 of households that moved out.

At 6.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
659
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.9
Top 17% nationally
Year over year
+25%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
33.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024100k93k
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 rising for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+1.8%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
32%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$51,351
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$50,441
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Fayette County, KY 1,110 people · 20% of arrivals
  2. Clark County, KY 238 people · 4.3% of arrivals
  3. Rockcastle County, KY 176 people · 3.2% of arrivals
  4. Estill County, KY 159 people · 2.9% of arrivals
  5. Laurel County, KY 152 people · 2.8% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Fayette County, KY 694 people · 16% of departures
  2. Rockcastle County, KY 235 people · 5.6% of departures
  3. Garrard County, KY 174 people · 4.1% of departures
  4. Estill County, KY 149 people · 3.5% of departures
  5. Clark County, KY 146 people · 3.5% 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

202020212022202320242025890333
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+111%).

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 25°F.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIV, 3.4 miles from this location.

Precipitation

MetricValueSource period
Average January low1991-2020 Normals25°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals43°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

80 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 49% of it. Every one of these is independently rated low or minimal nationally — this describes how a small risk is composed, not a large one.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 81% of measured US counties.

HailModerate
EarthquakeModerate

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

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.

Madison County has a modeled homicide rate of about 3.4 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 12.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 34.1 per 100,000 residents in Madison County.

Homicide
3.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
34.1
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
13.9
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 Madison 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.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
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. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Louisville Muhammad Ali Intl at 85 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year88.9%Top 35%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle85 miBottom 7%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 15%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year7.5%Top 27%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Louisville Muhammad Ali IntlSDF85 mi11,887 ft
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky IntlCVG94 mi10,000 ft
Wilmington Air ParkILN121 mi10,701 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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Area Score
66
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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
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
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.

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.