10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Kentucky For 2018

If you’re like the rest of us, you’re looking for the perfect place for your family. But you have a strict criteria; the city has to be safe, affordable, and stimulating. Basically, the place you move – or even visit – has to be outright perfect.

Is that attainable? Perhaps not, but we’ll get you as close as we can.

Promise.

According to the United States Census, the number of American families who move is trending downwards Why is that? Perhaps it has to do with the ‘safety net’ factor: We get comfortable where we live, and we’re afraid to try a new move. What if the schools are bad? What if it’s dangerous?

Well, we can pretty much guarantee that if you choose the cities we’re mentioning below, you won’t lose any sleep whatsoever.

So, where are the best cities for families in Kentucky? We’ve got the answers here.

These are the best cities to raise a family in the Bluegrass State:

1. Shelbyville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
2. Bardstown (Photos | Homes For Sale)
3. Lawrenceburg (Photos | Homes For Sale)
4. Danville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
5. Georgetown (Photos | Homes For Sale)
6. Elizabethtown (Photos | Homes For Sale)
7. Independence (Photos | Homes For Sale)
8. Madisonville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
9. Fort Thomas (Photos | Homes For Sale)
10. Somerset (Photos | Homes For Sale)

If you’re thinking of making a move to Kentucky, and want a family-friendly place, we’ve got you covered. And if you already have kids, we’re surprised you made it this far into the article and hope your little ones give you a couple of more minutes of free time.

Keep on reading for a detailed methodology.

Or, check out the best places to live in Kentucky and, for those of you on a budget, the cheapest places to live in Kentucky.

How do you determine which place is best for families in Kentucky anyways?

To give you the places in Kentucky which are best for families, we have to look at a handful of metrics. Of course, we want to measure the type of people who live in each city, and make some assumptions about what’s family-friendly and what isn’t.

So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.

How we crunched the family friendly numbers for the Bluegrass State

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of Kentucky, we looked at every single city in the state. We paid particular attention to:

• Crime (Both violent and property)
• Quality of local schools
• Distance to a major city without necessarily being in it
• % of households with children
• Family-friendly amenities nearby (museums, libraries and colleges)

We then gave each city a Family Score.

The higher the score, the better the city is for families. We also limited our results to cities with populations over 10,000 people. For Kentucky, that meant a total of 35 cities.

Read on to see why Shelbyville is where all the families are headed, while Shively is probably a place made for singles.

1. Shelbyville

Population: 15,039
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 41
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 42.4%
More on Shelbyville: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Shelbyville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Shelby County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 14,045 at the 2010 census.

2. Bardstown

Population: 13,026
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 65
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 36.8%
More on Bardstown: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Bardstown is a home rule-class city in Nelson County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was recorded as 11,700 by the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Nelson County. It is named for the pioneering Bard brothers. David Bard obtained a 1,000 acres land grant in 1785 in what was then Jefferson County, Virginia from Governor Patrick Henry. William Bard surveyed and platted the town. It was originally chartered as Baird’s Town.

3. Lawrenceburg

Population: 11,081
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 32
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 35.2%
More on Lawrenceburg: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Lawrenceburg is a home rule-class city in Anderson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 10,505 at the 2010 census. It is the seat of its county. Lawrenceburg is part of the Frankfort, Kentucky, micropolitan statistical area.

4. Danville

Population: 16,645
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 68
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 28.5%
More on Danville: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 16,690 at the 2015 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Boyle and Lincoln counties.

5. Georgetown

Population: 31,708
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 63
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 40.1%
More on Georgetown: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Georgetown is a home rule-class city in Scott County, Kentucky, in the United States. The 2016 population was 33,440 per the United States Census Bureau. It is the 7th-largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the seat of its county. It was originally called Lebanon when founded by Rev. Elijah Craig and was renamed in 1790 in honor of President George Washington. It is the home of Georgetown College, a private liberal arts college. Georgetown is part of the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area.

6. Elizabethtown

Population: 29,835
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 56
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 31.5%
More on Elizabethtown: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Elizabethtown is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Hardin County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 28,531 at the 2010 census, and was estimated at 29,906 by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2016, making it the 11th-largest city in the state. It is included in the Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Louisville/Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Madison, Kentucky-Indiana Combined Statistical Area.

7. Independence

Population: 26,317
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 33
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 42.7%
More on Independence: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Independence is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is one of its county’s two seats of government. Independence is a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the population was 24,757 at the time of the 2010 U.S. census.

8. Madisonville

Population: 19,615
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 44
Closest Major City: St. Louis
Households with kids: 32.9%
More on Madisonville: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Madisonville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Hopkins County, Kentucky, United States, located along Interstate 69 in the state’s Western Coal Fields region. The population was 19,591 at the 2010 census. Madisonville is a commercial center of the region and is home to Madisonville Community College.

9. Fort Thomas

Population: 16,317
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 46
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 32.5%
More on Fort Thomas: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Fort Thomas is a home rule-class city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States, on the southern bank of the Ohio River and the site of an 1890 US Army post. The population was 16,325 at the 2010 census, making it the largest city in Campbell County and it is officially part of the Cincinnati – Northern Kentucky metropolitan area.

10. Somerset

Population: 11,415
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 43
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 26.8%
More on Somerset: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Somerset is a home rule-class city in Pulaski County, Kentucky, United States. The city population was 11,196 according to the 2010 census.

Load More Cities

There You Have It – The Best Places To Raise A Family In Kentucky

If you’re looking for a breakdown of cities in Kentucky ranked by criteria that most would agree make a place a great spot for families, this is an accurate list.

Here’s a look at the best cities for singles Kentucky according to the data:

1. Shively
2. St. Matthews
3. Covington

For more Kentucky reading, check out:

• 10 Worst Places To Live In Kentucky
• 10 Safest Places In Kentucky
• 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Kentucky

Detailed List Of The Best Places For Families In Kentucky

Rank	City	Population	Amenities Score
1	Shelbyville	15,039	62
2	Bardstown	13,026	64
3	Lawrenceburg	11,081	59
4	Danville	16,645	67
5	Georgetown	31,708	51
6	Elizabethtown	29,835	62
7	Independence	26,317	51
8	Madisonville	19,615	46
9	Fort Thomas	16,317	52
10	Somerset	11,415	49
11	Ashland	21,294	61
12	Nicholasville	29,249	57
13	Mount Washington	14,088	50
14	Erlanger	18,565	46
15	Berea	14,667	53
16	Campbellsville	11,329	51
17	Shepherdsville	11,869	44
18	Henderson	28,870	48
19	Frankfort	27,598	66
20	Murray	18,726	42
21	Richmond	33,583	47
22	Mayfield	10,078	53
23	Florence	31,735	48
24	Jeffersontown	27,395	36
25	Hopkinsville	32,442	59
26	Glasgow	14,338	60
27	Owensboro	58,685	58
28	Bowling Green	62,824	65
29	Winchester	18,395	58
30	Paducah	25,010	76
31	Radcliff	22,806	50
32	Newport	15,321	54
33	Covington	40,766	31
34	St. Matthews	17,930	53
35	Shively	15,625	31