With Louisville constantly growing and announcing multiple high-profile developments, we figured it was time to talk about the cost of planting roots in Derby City.
The median household income in Jefferson County is $64,619 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. State-wise, Kentucky is 44th in the country for median income at $55,573 per household.
The overall cost of living in Louisville is lower than the national average.
Screenshot from bestplaces.net
The overall cost of living in Louisville is lower than the national average — which is represented as 100 in this chart — but higher than the rest of the commonwealth.
In Louisville, the cost of healthcare is lower than in other parts of the state + the US. However, the cost of groceries, housing, and other miscellaneous expenses in Derby City have higher average costs than other cities in the Bluegrass State, while transportation costs are higher than the rest of the state + the country overall.
Breaking down the numbers
Hypothetically speaking, if you live in a household that brings in $65,000 annually, your max monthly budget for rent and utilities would be ~$1,625 (30% of your monthly gross income). The average monthly rent for an apartment in Louisville is $1,247 — nearing the top of your budget.
Meanwhile, if you’re wondering how much you can currently afford to spend on buying a home in Louisville, try using SmartAsset’s cost calculator. Factors like your marital status, annual pre-tax income, down payment, and monthly debt, will help determine that figure. According to BestPlaces, the median home cost in Louisville is $229,700.
While we’re crunching numbers, let’s also take a look at the chart below to see how Louisville’s cost of living compares to that of Lexington, KY.
Louisville has more affordable housing than Frankfort, but transportation is more expensive.
Screenshot from bestplaces.net
Louisville has the more affordable food and groceries, health care + housing, but Lexington has us beat in transportation. The closest these cities get to each other is on the cost of utilities, which differs less than a whole point and is still lower than the national average.
Interested in seeing Louisville’s cost of living compared to cities in other states? We played around on Forbes’ cost of living calculator, where you can put in any city along with your current pre-tax household income to find out what other cities you could afford to live in.
We took a look at the cost of living in Louisville compared to San Francisco. Here’s what we found:
- The cost of living is 45% higher in San Francisco.
- To maintain our standard of living, we would need to bring in $116,917 to our Frisco household.
- The median cost for a two-bedroom apartment is $3,798, which is $2,480 more than Louisville.
Local housing + developments
In the most recently passed budget, the Louisville Metro Government invested $32 million toward Mayor Craig Greenberg’s goal of building 15,000 new affordable housing units by 2027. That investment included $15 million to support the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
There are also a number of local development firms working on apartments seemingly all the time — from the Richmond Apartments in Russell to the affordable housing development from LDG Development at the former Greyhound Bus Station site.
