Kentucky by the numbers
In Kentucky, the median worker earns $45,740 a year, the typical home is worth $192,300 and carries $1,472 of property tax, and the average household pays $154 a month for electricity at 14.98¢ per kilowatt-hour.
South PJM / MISO / TVA Regulated monopoly
Energy
Kentucky built part of its economy on cheap coal-fired electricity, and it retains a meaningful piece of that advantage: an old, largely depreciated coal fleet close to the mines, and no clean-energy mandate forcing early retirement.
The advantage is shrinking. Environmental compliance capital, maintenance on ageing units, and the rising cost of coal itself have all pushed costs up, and utilities have filed to retire units and replace them with gas and solar. Kentucky's legislature has made retirements harder by requiring commission approval, which slows the transition without lowering the underlying cost.
Parts of Kentucky sit in PJM and parts are served by TVA, so different corners of the state experienced different pressure over the past year.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Kentucky households used 1,119 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $154. At the state median wage that is about 7 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas and a heat pump cost about the same to run here.
Work and pay
The median Kentucky worker earned $45,740 in 2024, 7.6% below the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | 7.62× | $59,700 |
| Engine and Other Machine Assemblers | 6.08× | $46,830 |
| Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | 5.69× | $48,610 |
| Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | 5.11× | $57,590 |
| Conveyor Operators and Tenders | 4.54× | $55,920 |
Property tax
The median Kentucky homeowner pays $1,472 a year on a home worth $192,300, an effective rate of 0.77% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 116 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Kentucky run at 90.2 where the national average is 100, ranking it #40 of 51. Goods sit at 96.0, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 64.3, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $45,740 therefore buys what $50,710 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Cincinnati (95.4) , Louisville/Jefferson County (93.1) , Lexington-Fayette (92.9) , Clarksville (90.9) , Elizabethtown (90.6) .
Housing
House prices in Kentucky rose 4.3% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +97.1%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Metro areas tracked here: Cincinnati (+3.2%) , Louisville/Jefferson County (+2.4%) .
Who supplies the power
44 utilities report residential service in Kentucky, together serving 2.0 million customers. Regulated monopoly.
Kentucky: common questions
What does it cost to live in Kentucky?
Prices overall run at 90.2 against a national average of 100, with rents at 64.3. The typical home is worth $192,300 and carries $1,472 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.77% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $154 a month at 14.98¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $45,740.
What is the property tax rate in Kentucky?
The effective rate is 0.77% of home value, from a median bill of $1,472. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 116 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Kentucky?
The median wage of $45,740 buys what $50,710 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Kentucky falls on.
Is Kentucky expensive for electricity?
It ranks #36 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 14.98¢ per kilowatt-hour, -18.8% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 27 of 51, because households there use 1,119 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Kentucky?
$45,740 across all occupations, about $21.99 an hour, covering 1,993,680 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Kentucky?
44 utilities report residential service, the largest being Kentucky Utilities Co with 450,673 customers. Regulated monopoly.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources