How much do households in Kentucky spend on rent?
About $891 per month, or 29.4% of their income, in 2022. This is measured by comparing median rent and median monthly income for renting households.
Showing data for
In 2022, median rent was
29.4%
of median income
In 2022,
$891
was the median rent per month
Comparing rent to renter income provides one measure of rental affordability. Dividing rent by income provides what is called a rent-to-income ratio. A higher ratio of rent-to-income indicates rent is less affordable while a lower ratio indicates it’s more affordable.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development considers households with a rent-to-income ratio of more than 30%, that is, households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing, to be cost-burdened. Cost-burdened households may have less money for other necessities such as food, healthcare, or savings. When median monthly rent is more than 30% of average monthly income, it means a typical household would meet the definition of housing cost-burdened.
Kentucky's rent-to-income ratio was lower than in the US overall in 2022.
Ratio of median gross rent to median renter household income
Subscribe to get unbiased, data-driven insights sent to your inbox weekly.
The national rent-to-income ratio reached a high of 33.8% in 2011 following the Great Recession. In Kentucky, the rent-to-income ratio reached 33.4% that year. Most recently, in 2022, Kentucky’s rent-to-income ratio was 29.4%, 2.3 percentage points lower than the national rate.
Across metro areas, the average rent-to-income ratio was 30.8% in 2018–2022.
Ratio of median gross rent to median renter household income, 2018–2022
In 2018–2022, the average rent-to-income ratio across metro areas was 30.8%. The metro areas with the highest and lowest ratios were the Mayagüez, Puerto Rico area at 56.9% (highest) and Sheboygan, Wisconsin area, at 21.7% (lowest). In Kentucky, the Bowling Green area had the highest ratio at 29.6%, while the Elizabethtown area had the lowest at 23.0%.
During that period, the Lexington, Kentucky area had the highest median rent at $1,032 per month and the Elizabethtown, Kentucky area had the highest median monthly income at $3,925 out of five Kentucky metro areas. The Elizabethtown, KY area's rent-to-income ratio was the fifth in the state.
Renter income and rent, Kentucky metro areas (2018–2022)
| 1. | Bowling Green, KY area | $3,103 |
| 2. | Elizabethtown, KY area | $3,925 |
| 3. | Lexington, KY area | $3,527 |
| 4. | Louisville/Jefferson County, KY area | $3,474 |
| 5. | Owensboro, KY area | $3,006 |
