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 Kentucky for 2019:
- Danville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Lawrenceburg (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Elizabethtown (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Bardstown (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Shelbyville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Independence (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Somerset (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Madisonville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Shepherdsville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Mount Washington (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 some more reading about Kentucky and the best places for families in the country:
- Best Places To Live In Kentucky
- Cheapest Places To Live In Kentucky
- Best Cities To Raise A Family In America
- Best Cities To Raise A Family In America
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 11,000 people. For Kentucky, that meant a total of 34 cities.
Read on to see why Danville is where all the families are headed, while Shively is probably a place made for singles.
The 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Kentucky For 2019
/10
Population: 16,657
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 42
Closest Major City: Louisville
Households with kids: 24.7%
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.
/10
Population: 11,087
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 35
Closest Major City: Louisville
Households with kids: 32.9%
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.
/10
Population: 29,794
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 64
Closest Major City: Louisville
Households with kids: 29.3%
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.
/10
Population: 13,034
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 49
Closest Major City: Louisville
Households with kids: 34.0%
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.
/10
Population: 15,318
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 35
Closest Major City: Louisville
Households with kids: 35.3%
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.
/10
Population: 26,772
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 50
Closest Major City: Cincinnati
Households with kids: 37.5%
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.
/10
Population: 11,334
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 59
Closest Major City: Louisville
Households with kids: 22.2%
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.
/10
Population: 19,303
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 47
Closest Major City: Nashville
Households with kids: 28.6%
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.
/10
Population: 12,006
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 56
Closest Major City: Louisville
Households with kids: 33.8%
More on Shepherdsville: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data
Shepherdsville is a home rule-class city on the Salt River in Bullitt County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county, located just south of Louisville. The population was 11,222 during the 2010 U.S. Census.
/10
Population: 14,285
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 33
Closest Major City: Louisville
Households with kids: 35.5%
More on Mount Washington: Homes For Sale | Data
Mount Washington is a home rule-class city in northeast Bullitt County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 9,117 at the 2010 census. The city is one of several surrounding Louisville that have experienced a sharp rise in population in the past three decades, becoming a commuter town.
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:
- Shively
- Covington
- Winchester
For more Kentucky reading, check out:
- These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Kentucky
- 10 Safest Places In Kentucky
- These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Kentucky
Detailed List Of The Best Places For Families In Kentucky
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danville, KY | 16,657 |
| 2 | Lawrenceburg, KY | 11,087 |
| 3 | Elizabethtown, KY | 29,794 |
| 4 | Bardstown, KY | 13,034 |
| 5 | Shelbyville, KY | 15,318 |
| 6 | Independence, KY | 26,772 |
| 7 | Somerset, KY | 11,334 |
| 8 | Madisonville, KY | 19,303 |
| 9 | Shepherdsville, KY | 12,006 |
| 10 | Mount Washington, KY | 14,285 |
| 11 | Georgetown, KY | 32,142 |
| 12 | Campbellsville, KY | 11,364 |
| 13 | Fort Thomas, KY | 16,254 |
| 14 | Erlanger, KY | 18,674 |
| 15 | Ashland, KY | 21,035 |
| 16 | Murray, KY | 18,900 |
| 17 | Berea, KY | 14,927 |
| 18 | Nicholasville, KY | 29,547 |
| 19 | Florence, KY | 31,603 |
| 20 | Hopkinsville, KY | 31,741 |
| 21 | Jeffersontown, KY | 27,406 |
| 22 | Glasgow, KY | 14,318 |
| 23 | Frankfort, KY | 27,453 |
| 24 | Bowling Green, KY | 64,302 |
| 25 | Henderson, KY | 28,859 |
| 26 | Richmond, KY | 33,993 |
| 27 | Owensboro, KY | 58,791 |
| 28 | Paducah, KY | 24,879 |
| 29 | Newport, KY | 15,219 |
| 30 | Radcliff, KY | 22,718 |
| 31 | St. Matthews, KY | 17,993 |
| 32 | Winchester, KY | 18,364 |
| 33 | Covington, KY | 40,578 |
| 34 | Shively, KY | 15,701 |
So Lexington doesn’t count as a major city? It has over 300,000 people, and Danville, Somerset, and Lawrenceburg are closer to it than Louisville.