Nicholasville, Kentucky

Area Profile

32,197 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Nicholasville, in Jessamine County.

66out of 100
Area Score
Top 24% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 16 sources
OpportunityTop 35% of 4,199 cities measured64
Schools2,297th of 4,162 cities measured46
GrowthTop 13% of 4,224 cities measured71
Housing affordabilityTop 16% of 4,218 cities measured78
ClimateTop 30% of 4,225 cities measured74
Physical resilienceTop 31% of 4,226 cities measured75
Access3,983rd of 4,226 cities measured58
Economic stability3,120th of 4,226 cities measured44
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.6% and median household income $68,503, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured.

In the public schools here, 44% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.8 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 267 units authorized over the past twelve months, 27% below the prior year. 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
32,197
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$68,503
Top 48% nationally
Density
2,117/sq mi
15.2 sq mi of land
Median age
37.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Kentucky
Nearest major airport
SDF
67 mi · Louisville Muhammad Ali Intl
Median home value
$226,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.6% — higher than in all but 40% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment grew 1.2% over the past year, to 15,940 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsJessamine County, KY’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$78,06459th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftJessamine County, KY’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$62,46629th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$5,6822024 ACS 5-Year$68,503Top 48%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,9112024 ACS 5-Year$31,714Bottom 43%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year13.1%Bottom 41%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year26.2 minTop 47%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year26.9%Top 36%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year81.1%63rd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202615,940Bottom 15%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+5.2%Top 5%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+1.2%Top 13%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202616,70415th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year73.8%Bottom 36%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageLexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$62,210Bottom 23%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageLexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$48,620Bottom 27%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year0.7%81st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.1%Top 50%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.6%Bottom 40%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year8.8%55th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/074.82.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.6% 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

202120222023202469k57k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $68,503 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 — Lexington-Fayette, KY

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators8,650$59,730
General and Operations Managers8,100$80,440
Registered Nurses8,070$79,040
Retail Salespersons7,810$30,100
Fast Food and Counter Workers5,500$27,990
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand5,500$41,910

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.

44% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 54% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.8 students for every full-time teacher across 10 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.8
across 10 of them
Math proficiency
43.5%
Bottom 42% in Kentucky
Reading proficiency
53.8%
Bottom 49% in Kentucky
The 12 largest public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
West Jessamine High SchoolJessamine County1,27218.241%53%
East Jessamine High SchoolJessamine County1,22220.434%43%
East Jessamine Middle SchoolJessamine County94416.935%55%
West Jessamine Middle SchoolJessamine County88716.151%68%
Jessamine Early Learning VillageJessamine County78513.5——
Hattie C. Warner Elementary SchoolJessamine County57013.652%52%
Rosenwald Dunbar Elementary SchoolJessamine County54213.958%61%
Red Oak Elementary SchoolJessamine County51914.452%60%
Brookside Elementary SchoolJessamine County51514.747%45%
Nicholasville Elementary SchoolJessamine County46512.238%52%
Ashgrove AcademyJessamine County73.5——
Jessamine Career and Technology CenterJessamine County0———

55.8% 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 7% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 92.5, 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 Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area is up 53% over five years, and up 6.1% 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 $1,660 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 $1,272, some 11% above the $1,147 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,272 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $50,900 a year, about 74% of the median household income here of $68,503.

The typical renter household here spends 27% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,147 a month.

A median home at $226,800 costs 2.6 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $87,468, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
92.5

Prices here run about 7% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Lexington-Fayette, KY 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
27.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,272
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,147
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$226,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Nicholasville’s median household income of $68,503, 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 Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area’s figure202392.5Top 15%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+6.1%88th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+52.5%86th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+103.3%68th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.32024 ACS 5-Year2.6Bottom 46%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year58.2%18th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3972024 ACS 5-Year12,86395th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,079Top 28%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,743Top 32%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,272Top 26%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$692024 ACS 5-Year$1,147Bottom 35%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,9972024 ACS 5-Year$226,80060th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1002024 ACS 5-Year$1,66047th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$10,0052024 ACS 5-Year$87,468Top 39%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.05%2024 ACS 5-Year0.73%32nd percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year27.4%Top 44%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±562024 ACS 5-Year3879th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.3%54th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year5.4%41st percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±2702024 ACS 5-Year73293rd percentileof 32,3302024 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

71/ 100
Top 13% of 4,224 published city profiles
The most recent move in permitting was upward, in 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 33,458 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 421 units authorized in 2025, up 122% on the prior year.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 33,458 residents in 2024, up 2.2% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 267 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Jessamine County, which contains Nicholasville, gained about 0.9% 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 $78,064, above the $62,466 of households that moved out.

At 8.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
267
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.3
Top 16% nationally
Year over year
−27%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202433k31k
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
+0.9%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
29%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$78,064
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$62,466
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Fayette County, KY 1,332 people · 40% of arrivals
  2. Garrard County, KY 126 people · 3.8% of arrivals
  3. Madison County, KY 78 people · 2.3% of arrivals
  4. Woodford County, KY 78 people · 2.3% of arrivals
  5. Scott County, KY 77 people · 2.3% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Fayette County, KY 910 people · 31% of departures
  2. Garrard County, KY 218 people · 7.5% of departures
  3. Boyle County, KY 100 people · 3.4% of departures
  4. Woodford County, KY 92 people · 3.1% of departures
  5. Madison County, KY 91 people · 3.1% 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. This is the figure for Jessamine County, KY. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

202020212022202320242025421144
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+192%).

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.

Normal annual precipitation is 49.8 inches, including 14.5 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LEXINGTON BLUEGRASS AP, 10.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year582024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals49.8"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals14.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals25°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year02024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year432024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals43°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
58
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

75 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and strong wind, with inland flooding alone responsible for 43% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Strong windModerate
TornadoModerate
HailModerate
EarthquakeModerate
Cold waveModerate

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

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.

Violent crime
197
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,491
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Nicholasville's police department reported 197 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,491.

Jessamine County has a modeled homicide rate of about 4.1 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 12.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 25.4 per 100,000 residents in Jessamine County.

Homicide
4.1
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
25.4
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
15.6
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.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Nicholasville’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. 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 the county around Nicholasville (Jessamine County) rather than Nicholasville itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and 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.

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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Louisville Muhammad Ali Intl at 67 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year90.0%Top 49%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle67 miBottom 6%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 8%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year8.0%Bottom 47%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Louisville Muhammad Ali IntlSDF67 mi11,887 ft
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky IntlCVG80 mi10,000 ft
Wilmington Air ParkILN114 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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Other cities in Lexington-Fayette, KY

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Lexington-Fayette urban countyFayette County323,72569Lexington-Fayette urban county vs Nicholasville
GeorgetownScott County39,11771Georgetown vs Nicholasville
WinchesterClark County19,21364Winchester vs Nicholasville
VersaillesWoodford County10,49267
ParisBourbon County10,16056

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.

Compare

Put Nicholasville side by side with a similar place.

Nicholasville vs Copperas CoveNicholasville vs Brenham

Moving to Nicholasville from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
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
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
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.

ZIP codes in Nicholasville

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Nicholasville with census figures of its own, largest first.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
4035645,849$74,495$268,10067