Cost of living in Louisville, KY
The Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN metro area (1,396,762 people) ranks #114 of 149 for prices among the U.S. metro areas we cover. Here's what it costs to live there.
Hover over or tap a dot to see its value.
See all 149 cities
Price level, from cheaper to pricier.
- The Villages, FL 85.4
- McAllen, TX 85.9
- Springfield, MO 88.6
- Wichita, KS 88.9
- Jackson, MS 89.0
- Tulsa, OK 89.2
- Columbus, GA 89.3
- Little Rock, AR 89.4
- El Paso, TX 89.9
- Oklahoma City, OK 90.4
- Sioux Falls, SD 90.6
- Baton Rouge, LA 90.8
- Clarksville, TN 90.9
- Fargo, ND 90.9
- Killeen, TX 91.1
- Spartanburg, SC 91.1
- Fayetteville, AR 91.4
- Chattanooga, TN 91.5
- Toledo, OH 91.5
- Birmingham, AL 91.6
- Des Moines, IA 91.7
- Augusta, GA 91.9
- Omaha, NE 91.9
- Fayetteville, NC 92.0
- Winston-Salem, NC 92.0
- Jacksonville, NC 92.1
- Memphis, TN 92.2
- Kansas City, MO 92.5
- Fort Wayne, IN 92.6
- Knoxville, TN 92.6
- New Orleans, LA 92.6
- Dayton, OH 92.7
- Greensboro, NC 92.9
- Lexington, KY 92.9
- Huntsville, AL 93.1
- Louisville, KY 93.1
- Greenville, SC 93.3
- Akron, OH 93.4
- Billings, MT 93.5
- Myrtle Beach, SC 93.6
- Columbia, SC 93.7
- Cleveland, OH 93.9
- Daphne, AL 94.7
- Pittsburgh, PA 94.7
- San Antonio, TX 94.7
- St. Louis, MO 95.1
- Ocala, FL 95.2
- Savannah, GA 95.2
- Cincinnati, OH 95.4
- Albuquerque, NM 95.5
- Columbus, OH 95.5
- Grand Rapids, MI 95.5
- Indianapolis, IN 95.7
- Syracuse, NY 95.7
- Buffalo, NY 95.8
- Nashville, TN 96.3
- Wilmington, NC 96.4
- Asheville, NC 96.5
- Cheyenne, WY 96.5
- Gainesville, FL 96.7
- Milwaukee, WI 96.9
- Tucson, AZ 96.9
- Crestview, FL 97.0
- Rochester, NY 97.0
- Lakeland, FL 97.1
- Charlotte, NC 97.3
- Madison, WI 97.3
- Panama City, FL 97.3
- Durham, NC 97.6
- Pensacola, FL 97.7
- Richmond, VA 97.9
- Virginia Beach, VA 97.9
- Hilton Head Island, SC 98.0
- Austin, TX 98.1
- Provo, UT 98.2
- Raleigh, NC 98.2
- Prescott, AZ 98.3
- Boise, ID 98.4
- Houston, TX 98.6
- Harrisburg, PA 98.7
- Daytona Beach, FL 99.4
- Jacksonville, FL 99.5
- Albany, NY 99.6
- Allentown, PA 100.0
- Palm Bay, FL 100.0
- Atlanta, GA 100.1
- Greeley, CO 100.2
- Las Vegas, NV 100.2
- Port St. Lucie, FL 100.2
- Detroit, MI 100.3
- Ogden, UT 100.3
- Spokane, WA 100.3
- Norwich, CT 100.4
- Punta Gorda, FL 100.5
- Colorado Springs, CO 100.7
- Ann Arbor, MI 100.9
- Bakersfield, CA 100.9
- Burlington, VT 100.9
- Salt Lake City, UT 100.9
- Tampa, FL 100.9
- Charleston, SC 101.0
- Reno, NV 101.0
- Fort Collins, CO 101.1
- Orlando, FL 101.4
- Eugene, OR 101.6
- Providence, RI 101.8
- Portland, ME 101.9
- Fresno, CA 102.2
- Cape Coral, FL 102.3
- Sarasota, FL 102.4
- Worcester, MA 102.5
- Philadelphia, PA 102.6
- Hartford, CT 102.7
- Dallas, TX 103.1
- Naples, FL 103.2
- Trenton, NJ 103.2
- Phoenix, AZ 103.3
- Bend, OR 103.6
- Chicago, IL 103.6
- Olympia, WA 103.7
- Baltimore, MD 104.5
- New Haven, CT 104.6
- Minneapolis, MN 104.8
- Stockton, CA 105.1
- Boulder, CO 105.2
- Anchorage, AK 105.4
- Portland, OR 105.4
- Bremerton, WA 105.6
- Manchester, NH 105.7
- Denver, CO 105.8
- Riverside, CA 106.4
- Sacramento, CA 106.7
- Bridgeport, CT 106.9
- Santa Rosa, CA 107.8
- Boston, MA 108.3
- Vallejo, CA 108.5
- Santa Barbara, CA 108.8
- Washington, D.C. 108.9
- Salinas, CA 109.0
- Poughkeepsie, NY 109.4
- San Jose, CA 110.4
- Oxnard, CA 110.5
- Honolulu, HI 111.0
- Seattle, WA 111.1
- San Diego, CA 111.9
- New York, NY 112.6
- Los Angeles, CA 113.6
- Miami, FL 114.2
- San Francisco, CA 115.6
Compare Louisville with your city
See what you'd need to earn in Louisville to keep your lifestyle, after taxes and local prices. The calculator starts from Lexington, KY, which sends the most households here of the metros we cover (IRS, 2022–2023), using its median household income as an illustrative single-earner salary. Household income can include several earners and other income; it is not a typical individual wage. Pick your own city, salary and filing status.
Equal salary in Louisville: $69,600
Compare any two of 149 U.S. metro areas. All cities
To keep the same lifestyle, you need about $69,600 in Louisville, KY to match $70,000 in Lexington, KY ($400 less), after 2026 taxes and local prices.
Single filer, W-2 salary. Both are in Kentucky, so state income tax is the same; includes Lexington resident tax $1,925 (inside city limits) and Louisville resident tax $1,540 (in Jefferson County).
Prices and housing cover the metro area; taxes use Kentucky, its principal state. A metro can span several states; living in its other state can change the tax result.
What things cost in Louisville
The vertical line marks the U.S. average (100). BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 for the metropolitan area.
Taxes in Louisville
In this fixed example, one single filer earning a $75,000 W-2 salary keeps $57,435 after 2026 federal tax ($7,670), Social Security and Medicare ($5,738) and Kentucky income tax ($2,507), and $1,650 in Louisville resident income tax. The salary is rounded from median household income, not an observed individual wage. This example stays fixed when you change the calculator.
Prices and housing cover the full Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN metro area; the tax example uses its principal state, Kentucky. A home in another state within the metro can have different taxes.
Louisville Metro residents pay about 2.2% in occupational license taxes on wages (Metro 1.25%, schools 0.75%, TARC 0.2%). The tax covers all of Jefferson County, including its small suburban cities. People who live outside the county but work in it pay the 1.45% nonresident rate (no school tax). Surrounding Kentucky counties and cities tax work done there at their own rates, from none in Oldham County to 1% in Shelby County and 2% in Shepherdsville.
Housing
| Measure | Louisville area |
|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,140/mo |
| Median home value | $265,900 |
| Median property tax | $2,130/yr |
| Monthly cost to own the median home (20% down) | $1,744 |
| Median household income | $74,305 |
Climate and jobs in Louisville
In the Louisville area the average January low is 28°F and the average July high 89°F, and the area has about 43 days a year at 90°F or hotter. Unemployment averaged 4.2% in 2025, below the U.S. rate (4.3%), and the median wage across all jobs was $48,370 a year, 5% below the U.S. median.
| Climate | 1991–2020 average |
|---|---|
| January low | 28°F |
| July high | 89°F |
| Days 90°F or hotter | 43 a year |
| Precipitation | 48 in a year |
| Snowfall | 13 in a year |
| Jobs and pay | Metro area | U.S. |
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate, 2025 average | 4.2% | 4.3% |
| Median wage, all jobs (May 2025) | $48,370 | $50,980 |
| Wage and salary jobs (May 2025) | 685,190 | 155.5 million |
Climate: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020 averages at the Louisville International Airport station (USW00093821). Weather varies across a metro area, especially with elevation and distance from the coast. Jobs: unemployment from BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics; wages and job counts from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, which count wage and salary jobs, not the self-employed; wages are before taxes. The 2025 average covers 11 months: October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown.
Retiring in Louisville
Our modeled retiree budget is about $2,947 a month here with a home owned outright, or $3,423 renting. It uses spending benchmarks for households with a reference person age 65 or older (BLS 2024), adjusted for local prices. These are household-based estimates, not observed spending by a single retiree in Louisville. See where your budget goes furthest.
Where people move to and from Louisville
IRS county-to-county migration data, 2022–2023, aggregated to the 149 metro areas we cover.
Natural hazard risk
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores for the Louisville area is 83 of 100 (very high county-score mean), with modeled expected losses of about $447 per resident per year. A mean of county percentiles is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. It describes the counties in the metro; your property's risk can differ. Disaster risk by county in Kentucky.
The vertical line marks county-score scale midpoint (50).
Frequently asked questions
What salary do you need to live in Louisville?
In a fixed single-filer W-2 example living inside the principal city, about $74,900 in Louisville matches the buying power of $75,000 in an average-priced area with no state income tax. The example uses 2026 federal taxes, Kentucky state taxes and modeled resident local taxes where applicable. It stays fixed when calculator inputs change. Renting the median home at 30% of income takes $45,600, and buying the median home with 20% down takes about $74,740.
Is Louisville expensive?
The Louisville metro area's price level is 93.1 (U.S. = 100), #114 of the 149 metro areas we cover, from most to least expensive. Its housing rents price index is 78.6, 21% below the U.S. average.
Are people moving to Louisville?
Counting moves to and from the other 148 metro areas we cover, Louisville had a net loss of about 411 households in 2022–2023 (IRS county migration data).
What is the weather like in Louisville?
In NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for the Louisville area (Louisville International Airport weather station), the average January low is 28°F and the average July high 89°F. The area has about 43 days a year at 90°F or hotter and gets 48 inches of precipitation a year and about 13 inches of snow.
What are jobs and pay like in Louisville?
The Louisville metro area's unemployment rate averaged 4.2% in 2025, below the U.S. rate (4.3%). The median wage across all jobs was $48,370 a year in May 2025, 5% below the U.S. median of $50,980 (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
What natural disasters affect Louisville?
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores is 83 out of 100 (very high county-score mean). This is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. The highest county-score means by hazard are tornado, strong wind, earthquake.
Cities with similar prices
- Huntsville, AL 93.1
- Greensboro, NC 92.9
- Lexington, KY 92.9
- Greenville, SC 93.3
- Akron, OH 93.4
- Dayton, OH 92.7
- Moving from Kentucky
State-agency links identify the responsible tax office; they do not verify every modeled rule. Use forms and guidance for the year you are filing. Local-tax references retain their own publication or filing years. Some documents cover an earlier filing year; a source link is not a claim that every rule has just been rechecked.