42301Owensboro, Kentucky

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 42301.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 38% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5036th of 6,210 published ZIP areas39
Schools2608th of 4,422 published ZIP areas45
Growth2990th of 5,428 published ZIP areas47
Housing affordabilityTop 9% of 6,685 published ZIP areas100
ClimateTop 36% of 6,789 published ZIP areas74
Physical resilience4683rd of 6,709 published ZIP areas38
AccessTop 21% of 6,791 published ZIP areas98
Economic stability4199th of 6,742 published ZIP areas53
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 5.3% and the Opportunity signal places 42301 in the bottom 19%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 193 units authorized over the past twelve months, 35% below the prior year.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 16% of median household income and the median home is 3.0 times it.

At a glance

Population
45,445
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$66,885
Bottom 42% nationally
Density
263/sq mi
173.0 sq mi of land
Median age
36.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Owensboro
Kentucky
Metro area
Owensboro, KY
Nearest major airport
OWB
5 mi · Owensboro/Daviess County Rgnl
Median home value
$198,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.3% is lower than 19% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.9% over the past year, to 26,153 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,307$66,885Bottom 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,436$32,914Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.2%Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.5 minBottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher26.5%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment26,153Bottom 27%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.5%Top 21%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.9%Bottom 21%June 2026
Labor force27,615Bottom 27%June 2026
Labor force participation64.2%Top 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$54,150Bottom 4%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$44,960Bottom 7%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.6%Top 27%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.3%Top 19%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202467k53k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $66,885 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 — Owensboro, KY
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Registered Nurses1,770
Retail Salespersons1,490$29,030
General and Operations Managers1,200$73,460
Home Health and Personal Care Aides1,180$36,100
Cashiers1,130$27,870
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand1,130$39,380

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.

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

30% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 40% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
22
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
29.7%
Bottom 44% in Kentucky
Reading proficiency
39.9%
Bottom 36% in Kentucky
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Owensboro High SchoolOwensboro Independent1,34216.8
Apollo High SchoolDaviess County1,26516.2
Owensboro Middle SchoolOwensboro Independent79012.732%42%
F T Burns Middle SchoolDaviess County75715.127%47%
Tamarack Elementary SchoolDaviess County56416.639%45%
Sutton Elementary SchoolOwensboro Independent53516.236%42%
F T Burns Elementary SchoolDaviess County44016.327%36%
Audubon Elementary SchoolDaviess County40815.120%44%
Foust Elementary SchoolOwensboro Independent40012.122%31%
Cravens Elementary SchoolOwensboro Independent39613.716%22%
Sorgho Elementary SchoolDaviess County34113.630%39%
West Louisville Elementary SchoolDaviess County31915.258%37%

65.8% 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 $876 takes 16% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.0 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
15.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$876
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$198,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.96Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate63.0%Bottom 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±56919,762Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$48$876Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,823$198,200Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income15.7%Bottom 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.0%Bottom 33%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
47/ 100
Ranks 2990 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 3.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
193
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.2
Top 46% nationally
Year over year
−35%
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 Owensboro, 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 26°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 47.9 inches, including 10.8 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station EVANSVILLE REGIONAL AP, 25.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation47.9"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall10.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low26°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing45°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

38 / 100
Physical resilience

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

EarthquakeElevated
Ice stormModerate
Strong windElevated
Winter weatherModerate
HailModerate
Inland floodingElevated
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, tornado, drought, lightning, hurricane, landslide, 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.

Daviess County records 3.3 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 16.4 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 Daviess County.

Homicide
3.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.4
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 Daviess 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 42301 rather than 42301 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. 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.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 5 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Owensboro/Daviess County RgnlOWB5 mi8,000 ft
Evansville RgnlEVV26 mi8,021 ft
Louisville Muhammad Ali IntlSDF88 mi11,887 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
57
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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)
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)
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.

42301 vs Owensboro

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

42301
Owensboro
Median household income
$66,885
vs
$56,357
Per capita income
$32,914
vs
$33,626
Population density
263/sq mi
vs
2,831/sq mi
Median home value
$198,200
vs
$178,900
Median gross rent
$876
vs
$905
Homeownership rate
63.0%
vs
57.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher
26.5%
vs
26.1%
Poverty rate
14.2%
vs
18.9%
Median age
36.6
vs
37.5

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.