Bowling Green, KY
Bowling Green, KY Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Bowling Green, KY Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Bowling Green ranks 225th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 235th for income. A household earns $65,869 a year while median rent runs $1,024/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 10% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (45th of 300), while hazard safety is the soft spot (244th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 53rd and home prices 97th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Bowling Green, your take-home is worth about $64,809 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 235th of 300↑28.7%$65,869
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 58th of 30090 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $73,043
- Per-capita income
- $33,641
- Full-time pay
- $37,414
Housing
- Median rent
- 53rd of 300↑34.4%$1,024/mo
- Home value
- 97th of 300↑52.3%$258,900
- Property tax
- $1,477/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 6.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 138th of 3004.3%
- Bachelor's+
- 231st of 30027.1%
- Avg commute
- 51st of 30021.4 min
People
- Population
- 197,734
- Population change
- +11.8%
- Median age
- 35.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 9.6%
- Broadband
- 92.3%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 80th of 30041
- Natural-hazard loss
- 244th of 300$21/$10k
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — bowling green warren co ap.
What jobs pay in Bowling Green
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $134,980
- IT managers
- $126,940
- Financial managers
- $119,110
- Software developers
- $100,650
- Lawyers
- $96,830
- Civil engineers
- $96,260
- Registered nurses
- $79,120
- Accountants & auditors
- $71,540
- General & operations managers
- $71,170
- Plumbers
- $64,260
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,520
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,260
- Police officers
- $60,550
- Electricians
- $55,740
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $53,450
- Carpenters
- $52,680
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,880
- Construction laborers
- $41,880
- Customer service reps
- $37,970
- Janitors
- $34,190
- Waiters & waitresses
- $28,810
- Cashiers
- $28,540
- Retail salespersons
- $28,430
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Bowling Green metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Kentucky are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Tennessee1,713
- Oregon467
- Michigan455
- Florida351
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Bowling Green
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Bowling Green metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Bowling Green metro?
- Median gross rent across the Bowling Green, KY Metro Area is $1,024 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Bowling Green.
- What is the median household income in the Bowling Green metro?
- A typical household in the Bowling Green, KY Metro Area earns $65,869 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Bowling Green expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Bowling Green, KY Metro Area runs about 10% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Bowling Green metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $73,043 (versus its face value of $65,869). CityLedger rates the Bowling Green, KY Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Bowling Green metro?
- The median home value across the Bowling Green, KY Metro Area is $258,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Bowling Green metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Bowling Green, KY Metro Area is 4.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).