Lexington, KY
Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Lexington ranks 186th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 190th for income. A household earns $71,444 a year while median rent runs $1,245/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 7% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (35th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (190th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 147th and home prices 154th 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 Lexington, your take-home is worth about $62,918 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
- 190th of 300↑18.1%$71,444
- 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.
- 115th of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $76,913
- Per-capita income
- $41,832
- Full-time pay
- $41,611
Housing
- Median rent
- 147th of 300↑40.7%$1,245/mo
- Home value
- 154th of 300↑53.8%$306,900
- Property tax
- $2,361/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 6.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 164th of 3004.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 35th of 30044.1%
- Avg commute
- 78th of 30022.2 min
People
- Population
- 533,366
- Population change
- +3.2%
- Median age
- 36.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 10%
- Broadband
- 95%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 106th of 30043
- Natural-hazard loss
- 115th of 300$11/$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
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Health
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — lexington bluegrass ap.
What jobs pay in Lexington
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $237,650
- IT managers
- $144,160
- Pharmacists
- $136,530
- Financial managers
- $135,760
- Software developers
- $123,510
- Lawyers
- $111,040
- Civil engineers
- $103,090
- Web developers
- $91,260
- General & operations managers
- $80,440
- Registered nurses
- $79,040
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,780
- Secondary school teachers
- $64,850
- Plumbers
- $61,870
- Police officers
- $61,720
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,460
- Electricians
- $57,320
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $56,950
- Carpenters
- $52,030
- Construction laborers
- $46,300
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $44,910
- Customer service reps
- $39,160
- Janitors
- $35,460
- Waiters & waitresses
- $34,910
- Retail salespersons
- $30,100
- Cashiers
- $29,590
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 Lexington 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.
- Virginia1,320
- Ohio1,229
- Texas1,140
- Tennessee1,081
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Lexington
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Lexington metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Lexington metro?
- Median gross rent across the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area is $1,245 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Lexington.
- What is the median household income in the Lexington metro?
- A typical household in the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area earns $71,444 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Lexington expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area runs about 7% 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 Lexington metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $76,913 (versus its face value of $71,444). CityLedger rates the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Lexington metro?
- The median home value across the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area is $306,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Lexington metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metro Area is 4.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).