42071Murray, Kentucky

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 42071.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 23% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity6051st of 6,210 ZIP areas measured20
SchoolsTop 8% of 4,422 ZIP areas measured85
Growth3248th of 5,428 ZIP areas measured44
Housing affordabilityTop 44% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured84
ClimateTop 32% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured74
Physical resilience4535th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured42
Access6598th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured47
Economic stability6156th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured30
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 6.4% and the Opportunity signal places 42071 in the bottom 3%.

Rent takes 21% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.8 times that income.

A typical July reaches 89°F and a typical January falls to 27°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
30,981
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$50,198
Bottom 15% nationally
Density
148/sq mi
208.9 sq mi of land
Median age
33.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Murray
Kentucky
Metro area
Murray, KY
Nearest major airport
MWA
88 mi · Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois
Median home value
$190,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 6.4% is lower than 6% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 2.9% over the past year, to 15,662 employed residents.

33% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 71% of measured US ZIP areas.

Median household income of $50,198 is below 85% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,588$50,198Bottom 15%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,819$29,217Bottom 24%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate18.9%Top 21%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute17.7 minBottom 8%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher33.2%Top 29%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment15,662Bottom 12%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.0%Bottom 20%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.9%Bottom 11%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force16,735Bottom 12%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation56.9%Bottom 37%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)1.1%Top 3%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate6.4%Top 6%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202450k44k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $50,198 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Murray, KY, the city containing this ZIP code.

49% 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
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
49.0%
Top 3% in Kentucky
Reading proficiency
54.8%
Top 10% in Kentucky
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Calloway County High SchoolCalloway County82417.9
Murray Middle SchoolMurray Independent64514.760%69%
Murray High SchoolMurray Independent60717.3
Calloway County Middle SchoolCalloway County60716.437%57%
North Calloway Elementary SchoolCalloway County59614.941%45%
Murray Elementary SchoolMurray Independent58914.752%57%
Southwest Calloway Elementary SchoolCalloway County39915.360%53%
East Calloway Elementary SchoolCalloway County31014.845%38%
Calloway County Preschool CenterCalloway County16720.9
Murray Preschool Head StartMurray Independent10515.0
Calloway County Day TreatmentCalloway County71.8
Murray/Calloway County Area Tech CenterKentucky Tech System0

54.7% 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 $884 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
21.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$884
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$190,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.79Top 32%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate60.0%Bottom 16%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±39014,325Top 9%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$57$884Bottom 35%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,019$190,300Bottom 42%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.1%Top 29%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate15.3%Top 37%of 33,0282024 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
44/ 100
Ranks 3248 of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
26
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.4
Bottom 33% nationally
Year over year
+44%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Murray, KY, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 27°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 58.1 inches, including 6.5 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MURRAY, 1.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation58.1"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall6.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low27°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing43°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

42 / 100
Physical resilience

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

EarthquakeElevated
Ice stormModerate
Winter weatherModerate
TornadoModerate
DroughtModerate
LandslideModerate
Strong windModerate
HailModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, lightning, heat wave, inland flooding, hurricane, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

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.

Calloway County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 18.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 14.5 per 100,000 residents in Calloway County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
14.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
26.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 Calloway 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 42071 rather than 42071 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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 88 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Veterans Airport of Southern IllinoisMWA88 mi8,012 ft
Nashville IntlBNA95 mi11,030 ft
Owensboro/Daviess County RgnlOWB99 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
53
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

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
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

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.

42071 vs Murray

How this ZIP area compares with Murray as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

42071
Murray
Median household income
$50,198
vs
$44,091
Per capita income
$29,217
vs
$26,129
Population density
148/sq mi
vs
1,546/sq mi
Median home value
$190,300
vs
$195,000
Median gross rent
$884
vs
$870
Homeownership rate
60.0%
vs
41.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher
33.2%
vs
36.1%
Poverty rate
18.9%
vs
24.1%
Median age
33.9
vs
25.8

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.