Pulaski County, KY

County Profile

65,897 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Pulaski 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.

61out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 47% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1141st of 1,255 counties measured30
SchoolsTop 13% of 973 counties measured80
GrowthTop 21% of 1,226 counties measured66
Housing affordabilityTop 38% of 1,255 counties measured96
ClimateTop 15% of 1,254 counties measured77
Physical resilience654th of 1,255 counties measured60
Access1195th of 1,255 counties measured40
Economic stability1188th of 1,255 counties measured24
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 5.8% and the Opportunity signal places Pulaski County in the bottom 9%.

Rent takes 19% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.2 times that income.

The nearest major airport is 95 miles away, which is farther than most measured US locations.

At a glance

Population
65,897
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$51,898
Bottom 17% nationally
Density
100/sq mi
658.1 sq mi of land
Median age
42.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Pulaski County
Kentucky
Metro area
Somerset, KY
Nearest major airport
TYS
95 mi · Mc Ghee Tyson
Median home value
$166,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.8% is lower than 8% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 1.1% over the past year, to 26,437 employed residents.

Median household income of $51,898 is below 83% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$1,971$51,898Bottom 17%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,486$29,394Bottom 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income$49,513Bottom 21%of 1,2062023
Poverty rate19.7%Top 18%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.3 minBottom 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher18.1%Bottom 27%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment26,437Bottom 34%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)3.5%Top 17%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.1%Bottom 39%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force28,067Bottom 35%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation52.4%Bottom 21%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.6%Top 23%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate5.8%Top 8%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.83.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.8% in June 2026. 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
202120222023202452k43k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $51,898 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.

46% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 55% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.8 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
19
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
45.9%
Top 10% in Kentucky
Reading proficiency
55.4%
Top 7% in Kentucky
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Southwestern High SchoolPulaski County1,21316.6
Pulaski County High SchoolPulaski County1,11315.2
Southern Middle SchoolPulaski County87119.852%57%
Northern Middle SchoolPulaski County79717.322%62%
Hopkins Elementary SchoolSomerset Independent75016.747%48%
Southern Elementary SchoolPulaski County61113.347%52%
Oak Hill Elementary SchoolPulaski County55116.261%80%
Pulaski Elementary SchoolPulaski County53515.354%56%
Somerset High SchoolSomerset Independent52612.5
Science Hill Elementary SchoolScience Hill Independent49816.153%59%
Meece Middle SchoolSomerset Independent48614.331%50%
Burnside Elementary SchoolPulaski County41412.932%42%

63.8% 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 $803 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.2 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$803
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$166,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.22Top 40%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.5%Bottom 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4831,722Top 25%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$38$803Bottom 35%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$5,780$166,900Bottom 42%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.6%Top 33%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate17.4%Top 36%of 3,2222024 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 →
Development Momentum
66/ 100
Top 21% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

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 3% since 2020, reaching 66,842 in 2024.

88% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 1.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
112
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.7
Bottom 29% nationally
Year over year
+44%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
87.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202467k65k
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.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420251309.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+665%).

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 29°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 53.3 inches, including 5.4 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 41, 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 SOMERSET 2 N, 2.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index54.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation53.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall5.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low29°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index41.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing41°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
41
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
54
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. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

60 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and earthquake.

Winter weatherModerate
HailModerate
EarthquakeElevated
TornadoElevated
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, strong wind, heat wave, landslide, wildfire, ice storm, hurricane, drought, avalanche.

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.

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

Pulaski County records 5.2 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 18.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 18.1 per 100,000 residents in Pulaski County.

Homicide
5.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.1
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
18.1
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
15.1
per 100,000 residents

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 Pulaski 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 Pulaski County rather than Pulaski 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
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. 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 95 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Mc Ghee TysonTYS95 mi10,000 ft
Louisville Muhammad Ali IntlSDF97 mi11,887 ft
Tri-CitiesTRI128 mi8,000 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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Area Score
61
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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.

Cities in Pulaski County, KY