The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In Kentucky For 2022


Using science and data, we can tell you which places in Kentucky have seen home prices rising and people flocking over the past year.

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Editor’s note: This is not investment advice and we are not financial advisers. Article updated for 2022.

There's a the age old question everyone thinks about when they decide to move to a city in Kentucky:

Should I buy a place or rent? Well, we aren't here today to solve that problem for you exactly. We are just assuming you'll do the right thing and a buy a place. And while we are happy to tell you the best place to live in Kentucky, this analysis is going to tackle the question of the best place to buy a house as an investor. That is we are going to try and determine the up and coming cities in the Bluegrass State.

To do that we are going to look at places in Kentucky that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average. In every day terms, the "deals". The best deal in Kentucky at the moment? That would be Crestwood according to our analysis.

Here's a look at the top ten places to buy a home in Kentucky for 2022.

The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In Kentucky For 2022

  1. Crestwood
  2. Williamsburg
  3. Dayton
  4. Douglass Hills
  5. Fort Wright
  6. Central City
  7. Bellevue
  8. Lebanon
  9. Union
  10. Monticello

What's the best place to buy a home in Kentucky for 2022? According to our analysis, would the the ideal place to buy a home looking into the future.

The methodology that wen't into this can be a bit complicated, so we'll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below. If you're not worried about finding a deal on good places to live, check out the most expensive places to live in Kentucky and, for those of you on a budget, the cheapest places to live in Kentucky.

For more Kentucky reading, check out:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Kentucky For 2022

1. Crestwood

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,034
Median Home Price: $276,500
Population Change: 1.2%
Home Price Change: -0.3%
More on Crestwood: Homes For Sale | Data

2. Williamsburg

Williamsburg, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,266
Median Home Price: $82,100
Population Change: 0.1%
Home Price Change: -13.8%
More on Williamsburg: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

3. Dayton

Dayton, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,550
Median Home Price: $112,000
Population Change: 1.0%
Home Price Change: 4.7%
More on Dayton: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

4. Douglass Hills

Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 5,713
Median Home Price: $269,000
Population Change: 0.1%
Home Price Change: 5.0%
More on Douglass Hills: Homes For Sale | Data

5. Fort Wright

Fort Wright, KY

Source: Wikipedia User roadroid @ Mapillary.com | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 5,766
Median Home Price: $215,000
Population Change: 0.4%
Home Price Change: 6.5%
More on Fort Wright: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

6. Central City

Central City, KY

Source: Flickr User ORA r.FLORES | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,770
Median Home Price: $123,800
Population Change: -0.7%
Home Price Change: -4.5%
More on Central City: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

7. Bellevue

Bellevue, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,786
Median Home Price: $135,900
Population Change: -0.3%
Home Price Change: -0.4%
More on Bellevue: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

8. Lebanon

Lebanon, KY

Source: Wikipedia User W.marsh | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,960
Median Home Price: $98,700
Population Change: 5.6%
Home Price Change: 6.6%
More on Lebanon: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

9. Union

Union, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 5,988
Median Home Price: $279,400
Population Change: 1.3%
Home Price Change: 6.2%
More on Union: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

10. Monticello

Monticello, KY

Source: Wikipedia User W.marsh | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,999
Median Home Price: $97,300
Population Change: -1.2%
Home Price Change: -1.0%
More on Monticello: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Kentucky for 2022?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have been working on this site for another three. Suffice is to say, we've put a lot of thought into what goes into finding a good place to buy a home.

So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we'd approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Kentucky. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Kentucky with undervalued homes relative to pent up demand.

Richest Cities In Kentucky

To do that we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2016-2020 and compared it to the previous vintage (2012-2016). Specifically, we used the following criteria:

  • Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
  • Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
  • Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It's still kinda cheap)

We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still "cheap" for Kentucky with the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in Kentucky, only 78 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 78 for the criteria mentioned above with 1 being the best for that criteria. We averaged the rankings to create a "best place to buy" index with the place having the lowest index being the best. You can download the data here.

Turns out that Crestwood is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Bluegrass State.

Read on for more on these places.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Kentucky for 2022

There's our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Kentucky. And, to be clear, we aren't necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.

In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.

So if we'd could rent or buy in these cities, we'd definitely buy.

For more Kentucky reading, check out:

Home Prices By City In Kentucky

City Rank Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
Crestwood 1 $276,500 1.2% -0.3%
Williamsburg 2 $82,100 0.1% -13.8%
Dayton 3 $112,000 1.0% 4.7%
Douglass Hills 4 $269,000 0.1% 5.0%
Fort Wright 5 $215,000 0.4% 6.5%
Central City 6 $123,800 -0.7% -4.5%
Bellevue 7 $135,900 -0.3% -0.4%
Lebanon 8 $98,700 5.6% 6.6%
Union 9 $279,400 1.3% 6.2%
Monticello 10 $97,300 -1.2% -1.0%
Princeton 11 $75,600 -0.5% -4.7%
Vine Grove 12 $169,800 2.1% 11.2%
Cynthiana 13 $120,400 -0.7% 3.8%
Wilmore 14 $164,000 0.1% -4.0%
Cold Spring 15 $190,000 1.2% -3.2%
Pikeville 16 $226,200 -2.5% 23.9%
Leitchfield 17 $109,100 -0.3% 5.9%
Taylor Mill 18 $164,700 0.6% 1.0%
Russellville 19 $98,600 0.2% 7.6%
Flatwoods 20 $96,500 -0.2% 5.3%
Mount Sterling 21 $140,500 0.3% 9.0%
Oak Grove 22 $115,400 -0.1% 3.2%
Highland Heights 23 $121,700 3.1% 11.8%
Villa Hills 24 $218,500 0.3% -0.8%
Corbin 25 $120,300 3.2% 15.7%
Morehead 26 $161,200 0.0% -6.0%
Middletown 27 $235,300 -0.1% 9.4%
London 28 $130,100 -0.0% 6.8%
Fort Mitchell 29 $279,400 0.3% 2.6%
Harrodsburg 30 $108,500 0.7% 7.7%
Elsmere 31 $117,500 0.6% 5.5%
Maysville 32 $137,500 -0.3% 4.0%
Edgewood 33 $225,500 0.4% -0.0%
Franklin 34 $120,900 0.8% 9.3%
La Grange 35 $181,900 0.9% 7.4%
Hillview 36 $126,100 -0.1% -0.9%
Middlesborough 37 $72,400 -1.6% -20.9%
Versailles 38 $175,200 0.4% 2.3%
Alexandria 39 $186,700 1.9% 3.9%
Paris 40 $131,000 -0.4% 2.8%
Mayfield 41 $104,200 -0.4% 4.0%
Campbellsville 42 $129,400 -0.4% 20.6%
Lawrenceburg 43 $142,100 0.6% 8.4%
Lyndon 44 $215,500 0.2% 12.7%
Somerset 45 $113,400 0.9% -4.5%
Bardstown 46 $133,900 0.6% 8.4%
Shepherdsville 47 $155,000 12.6% 7.5%
Glasgow 48 $123,000 0.0% 1.2%
Mount Washington 49 $181,500 0.9% 6.5%
Newport 50 $162,000 -0.5% 12.5%
Shively 51 $109,300 -0.0% 2.1%
Berea 52 $130,000 1.9% -6.7%
Shelbyville 53 $187,800 1.5% 5.2%
Fort Thomas 54 $230,300 0.2% 1.2%
Danville 55 $145,000 0.4% -2.5%
St. Matthews 56 $256,100 -0.8% 9.0%
Winchester 57 $133,600 0.5% 4.2%
Madisonville 58 $123,700 -0.7% -1.0%
Erlanger 59 $140,300 0.7% 3.1%
Murray 60 $158,200 0.4% 0.4%
Ashland 61 $101,900 -0.9% -0.9%
Radcliff 62 $131,200 0.7% 1.6%
Paducah 63 $118,100 0.2% -0.3%
Frankfort 64 $132,500 0.1% 1.2%
Jeffersontown 65 $186,600 -0.4% 2.8%
Independence 66 $179,700 1.6% 3.7%
Henderson 67 $119,800 -0.5% -0.7%
Elizabethtown 68 $175,400 1.9% -2.6%
Nicholasville 69 $149,500 0.8% 3.2%
Hopkinsville 70 $117,500 -0.0% 0.8%
Florence 71 $154,900 1.1% 0.8%
Georgetown 72 $176,300 2.3% 3.7%
Richmond 73 $148,900 1.7% -2.4%
Covington 74 $120,100 -0.2% 7.7%
Owensboro 75 $125,600 0.4% 10.8%
Bowling Green 76 $168,000 6.0% 4.3%
Lexington 77 $200,900 0.5% 5.8%
Louisville 78 $165,400 0.2% 4.2%
Download The Entire Kentucky Ranking Data

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About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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