AreaProfile

Covington, Kentucky

Area Profile

41,110 residents. Jobs, income, climate, physical risk, development and airport access for Covington, in Kenton County.

74
Area Score
Top 13% of 1,482 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 49% of 1,567 published cities57
GrowthTop 10% of 1,503 published cities74
Housing affordabilityTop 13% of 1,876 published cities95
Climate1008th of 1,876 published cities69
Physical resilienceTop 26% of 1,849 published cities78
AccessTop 25% of 1,876 published cities98
Economic stability1493rd of 1,876 published cities44
The quick read

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 242 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 85% on the prior year.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles, with rent taking 20% of median household income.

A major airport is 8 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
41,110
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$61,166
Bottom 41% nationally
Density
3,123/sq mi
13.2 sq mi of land
Median age
37.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Kenton County
Kentucky
Metro area
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
Nearest major airport
CVG
8 mi · Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Intl
Median home value
$187,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 39% of the 1,567 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.2% over the past year, to 20,973 employed residents.

32% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 73% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,263$61,166Bottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,485$37,216Top 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate20.8%Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.3 minBottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher32.2%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment20,973Bottom 39%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.0%Top 25%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.2%Top 28%June 2026
Labor force22,011Bottom 40%June 2026
Labor force participation67.3%Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$67,370Bottom 46%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$50,170Bottom 44%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.1%Top 44%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 39%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032026/012026/065.03.2
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.7% in June 2026.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202461k48k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $61,166 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 — Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers30,950$29,720
General and Operations Managers29,330$100,670
Retail Salespersons28,670$30,810
Registered Nurses28,520$83,650
Stockers and Order Fillers26,870$37,810
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand22,910$40,240

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.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,006 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,006
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$187,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.06Top 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate51.8%Bottom 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±44021,048Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$57$1,006Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,676$187,300Top 50%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.7%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate13.2%Top 39%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 →
Development Momentum
74/ 100
Top 10% of 1,503 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 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 2% since 2020, reaching 41,611 in 2024.

At 5.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
242
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.9
Top 27% nationally
Year over year
+85%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
51.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202442k41k
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
202020222023202420252690.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

6 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 24°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.4 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CINCINNATI LUNKEN AP, 7.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low24°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 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

78 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado.

TornadoElevated

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, cold wave, lightning, heat wave, inland flooding, ice storm, earthquake, winter weather, landslide, hail, wildfire, drought, hurricane.

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.

Taxes

AreaProfile does not yet publish tax comparisons. No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, methodology transparency and update cadence, and the product rule is to omit a dimension rather than estimate it. The Area Score is calculated without a tax component and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Nothing on AreaProfile is individualized tax advice.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 8 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky IntlCVG8 mi10,000 ft
Wilmington Air ParkILN47 mi10,701 ft
James M Cox Dayton IntlDAY62 mi8,502 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
74
Your Score

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Other cities in Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
CincinnatiHamilton County311,22473vs Covington
MiddletownButler County51,61773vs Covington
FairfieldButler County44,82871vs Covington
MasonWarren County35,50983vs Covington
FlorenceBoone County32,803vs Covington
IndependenceKenton County29,39279vs Covington

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.

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)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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)

Profile recalculated August 29, 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 Covington

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4101126,981$69,97074
410147,392$61,38273