Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.
Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in Kentucky with best potential return on investment.
After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.
To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in Kentucky that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.
In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in Kentucky at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Walton.
3.9% population growth · 3.3% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-1.9% population growth · 6.3% home price growth
Located in
Perry County, Kentucky
Hazard is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Perry County, Kentucky, United States. The population was estimated to be 5,346 in 2014.
Data | Movers
1.3% population growth · 1.8% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.8% population growth · 7.0% home price growth
Williamsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Whitley County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,245 at the 2010 census. The city was founded in 1818 and named after William Whitley. The Cumberland River flows through the city.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.7% population growth · -0.5% home price growth
Located in
Campbell County, Kentucky
Dayton is a home rule-class city along a bend of the Ohio River in Campbell County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 5,338 at the 2010 census. It is less than 3 miles from downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.7% population growth · -0.0% home price growth
Located in
Jefferson County, Kentucky
Douglass Hills is a home rule-class city in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,718 at the 2000 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.1% population growth · 1.6% home price growth
Located in
Kenton County, Kentucky
Fort Wright is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 5,723 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.5% population growth · -4.7% home price growth
Central City is a home rule-class city in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 5,978 at the 2010 census. It is also the largest city in the county and the principal community in the Central City Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Muhlenberg County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.7% population growth · 2.2% home price growth
Located in
Campbell County, Kentucky
Bellevue is a home rule-class city in Campbell County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is located along the southern bank of the Ohio River. The population was 5,955 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
1.0% population growth · 7.0% home price growth
Located in
Marion County, Kentucky
Lebanon is a home rule-class city in Marion County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 6,331 at the 2010 census. It is the seat of its county. Lebanon is located in central Kentucky, southeast of Louisville. A national cemetery is located nearby.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Kentucky’s statewide median.
Kentucky statewide median: $231,894
On the map
Where Kentucky’s best buys are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Kentucky for 2026?
We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for over a decade. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent 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 using Saturday Night Science.
To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2020-2024 and compared it to the previous vintage. 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 these caveats: home prices had to be within 20% of the state average, home prices increased in the last year, and the city had above 5,000 people.
So of the 520 cities and towns in Kentucky, only 80 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.
We then ranked each place from 1 to 80 for the above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.
Turns out that Walton is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Bluegrass State. The median Kentucky home is 43 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Best Places To Buy A Home In Kentucky
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Median Home Price | Population Change | Home Price Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walton | 5,730 | $349,337 | 3.9% | 3.3% |
| 2 | Hazard | 5,008 | $102,374 | -1.9% | 6.3% |
| 3 | Crestwood | 6,356 | $481,032 | 1.3% | 1.8% |
| 4 | Williamsburg | 5,270 | $125,457 | 0.8% | 7.0% |
| 5 | Dayton | 5,743 | $200,111 | 0.7% | -0.5% |
| 6 | Douglass Hills | 5,474 | $390,589 | 0.7% | -0.0% |
| 7 | Fort Wright | 5,887 | $334,172 | 0.1% | 1.6% |
| 8 | Central City | 5,707 | $120,968 | -0.5% | -4.7% |
| 9 | Bellevue | 5,636 | $245,119 | 0.7% | 2.2% |
| 10 | Lebanon | 6,430 | $227,854 | 1.0% | 7.0% |
| 11 | Union | 7,642 | $449,093 | 2.0% | 1.1% |
| 12 | Monticello | 5,753 | $158,807 | 0.2% | -2.1% |
| 13 | Princeton | 6,241 | $146,193 | -0.0% | 6.3% |
| 14 | Vine Grove | 6,830 | $269,116 | 1.6% | -1.9% |
| 15 | Cynthiana | 6,458 | $236,040 | 0.7% | 4.5% |
| 16 | Wilmore | 6,057 | $311,534 | 0.4% | 2.6% |
| 17 | Cold Spring | 6,341 | $302,336 | 0.7% | 9.8% |
| 18 | Pikeville | 7,490 | $123,118 | -0.9% | 7.9% |
| 19 | Leitchfield | 6,819 | $166,231 | 6.0% | -0.3% |
| 20 | Taylor Mill | 6,937 | $276,590 | 0.8% | 3.5% |
| 21 | Russellville | 7,316 | $187,675 | 1.0% | -6.8% |
| 22 | Flatwoods | 7,269 | $142,236 | -0.2% | 2.9% |
| 23 | Mount Sterling | 7,551 | $218,631 | 0.0% | 2.1% |
| 24 | Oak Grove | 7,962 | $210,939 | 0.2% | -0.7% |
| 25 | Highland Heights | 6,444 | $205,650 | -1.3% | 3.9% |
| 26 | Villa Hills | 7,480 | $393,017 | 1.4% | 4.7% |
| 27 | Corbin | 8,246 | $176,478 | -2.2% | 3.9% |
| 28 | Morehead | 6,870 | $179,844 | -0.8% | 0.4% |
| 29 | Middletown | 9,763 | $378,971 | 1.5% | 7.6% |
| 30 | London | 7,561 | $182,770 | -0.2% | 0.3% |
| 31 | Fort Mitchell | 8,713 | $398,735 | 0.4% | 4.1% |
| 32 | Harrodsburg | 9,313 | $237,089 | 2.0% | 1.0% |
| 33 | Elsmere | 9,205 | $222,955 | 0.6% | 3.2% |
| 34 | Maysville | 8,737 | $157,413 | -0.5% | 0.8% |
| 35 | Edgewood | 8,447 | $361,115 | 0.2% | 3.3% |
| 36 | Franklin | 10,360 | $247,589 | 1.0% | 0.1% |
| 37 | La Grange | 10,311 | $392,372 | 1.2% | 1.3% |
| 38 | Hillview | 8,797 | $224,675 | 0.7% | 2.0% |
| 39 | Middlesborough | 9,123 | $112,676 | -1.5% | 7.8% |
| 40 | Versailles | 10,492 | $348,651 | 1.1% | 0.4% |
| 41 | Alexandria | 10,562 | $338,680 | 1.3% | 5.5% |
| 42 | Paris | 10,160 | $256,361 | 0.5% | 1.9% |
| 43 | Mayfield | 9,868 | $158,700 | -0.4% | 2.3% |
| 44 | Campbellsville | 11,622 | $209,817 | 0.9% | 0.8% |
| 45 | Lawrenceburg | 11,943 | $261,326 | 0.9% | -0.9% |
| 46 | Lyndon | 11,030 | $312,200 | 0.7% | -3.1% |
| 47 | Somerset | 12,216 | $191,314 | 0.9% | -1.6% |
| 48 | Bardstown | 13,804 | $262,584 | 1.0% | 3.9% |
| 49 | Shepherdsville | 14,533 | $285,270 | 1.3% | 2.2% |
| 50 | Glasgow | 15,197 | $214,446 | 0.4% | 1.9% |
| 51 | Mount Washington | 18,480 | $325,406 | 1.4% | 1.1% |
| 52 | Newport | 13,967 | $242,641 | -0.5% | 2.2% |
| 53 | Shively | 15,638 | $174,485 | 0.5% | 6.4% |
| 54 | Berea | 15,786 | $247,721 | 1.5% | 0.9% |
| 55 | Shelbyville | 17,668 | $305,922 | 1.3% | 0.7% |
| 56 | Fort Thomas | 17,169 | $368,293 | -0.4% | 5.4% |
| 57 | Danville | 17,327 | $247,085 | 0.5% | 1.8% |
| 58 | St. Matthews | 17,577 | $381,227 | 0.5% | -0.7% |
| 59 | Winchester | 19,213 | $256,849 | 0.4% | -0.8% |
| 60 | Madisonville | 19,515 | $159,338 | 0.4% | 3.7% |
| 61 | Erlanger | 19,875 | $245,646 | 1.0% | 1.7% |
| 62 | Murray | 18,080 | $198,098 | 1.1% | 3.2% |
| 63 | Ashland | 21,295 | $121,324 | -0.5% | 3.5% |
| 64 | Radcliff | 22,864 | $209,910 | -0.4% | -1.3% |
| 65 | Paducah | 26,845 | $191,091 | -0.2% | -1.5% |
| 66 | Frankfort | 28,503 | $240,679 | 0.2% | -1.3% |
| 67 | Jeffersontown | 29,199 | $282,762 | 0.7% | 1.3% |
| 68 | Independence | 29,392 | $323,031 | 1.3% | 2.2% |
| 69 | Henderson | 27,852 | $198,772 | -0.5% | 3.6% |
| 70 | Elizabethtown | 32,576 | $268,313 | 2.2% | -0.9% |
| 71 | Nicholasville | 32,197 | $320,269 | 1.8% | 3.1% |
| 72 | Hopkinsville | 30,906 | $195,680 | -0.3% | 0.6% |
| 73 | Florence | 32,803 | $286,328 | 1.5% | 1.9% |
| 74 | Georgetown | 39,117 | $336,540 | 2.4% | 3.3% |
| 75 | Richmond | 37,111 | $297,033 | 4.5% | 0.6% |
| 76 | Covington | 41,110 | $221,429 | 0.5% | 4.8% |
| 77 | Owensboro | 60,302 | $209,852 | 0.3% | 3.9% |
| 78 | Bowling Green | 75,388 | $288,241 | 2.4% | 1.5% |
| 79 | Lexington-Fayette urban county | 323,725 | $331,036 | 0.8% | 3.2% |
| 80 | Louisville/Jefferson County metro government (balance) | 631,818 | $263,814 | 0.7% | 1.1% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 via Saturday Night Science. 80 Kentucky cities cleared the filters.
Summary
Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Kentucky for 2026
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 520 places in the state.
The best cities to buy a house in Kentucky are Walton, Hazard, Crestwood, Williamsburg, Dayton, Douglass Hills, Fort Wright, Central City, Bellevue, and Lebanon.
So if we could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy. Not sold on Kentucky? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Best Places To Buy A House In Kentucky FAQs
What is the best city in Kentucky to buy a house?
Walton is the best place to buy a house in Kentucky for 2026. Its population is growing, home values are rising, and the median home still costs $349,337. Hazard and Crestwood are next on the list.
What are the best cities to buy a home in Kentucky?
The best cities to buy a house in Kentucky are Walton, Hazard, Crestwood, Williamsburg, Dayton, Douglass Hills, Fort Wright, Central City, Bellevue, and Lebanon. Only 80 of the 520 places in Kentucky cleared our filters on growth and home prices.
How much does a house cost in Walton?
The median home value in Walton is $349,337, versus $231,894 across Kentucky. Across the full top ten, the median home runs $236,486.
How do you pick the best places to buy a home in Kentucky?
We look for Kentucky places where the population is growing, home prices are climbing, and homes are still cheap relative to the state average, using Census American Community Survey data. Cities that hit all three get the highest Buy Index scores.
Is this a guarantee home values will go up?
No. This is not investment advice — just where the data points to potential value. The Buy Index says these markets look healthier than most of Kentucky, not that any single house is a good deal.
