Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Kentucky (2026)

Florence leads Kentucky on gross yield at 9.1 percent, not because it is the cheapest city here (that is Paducah at $196,750) but because its $1,900 median asking rent is high for a $250,000 home. Independence is close behind at 8.3 percent. The rental mix matters. In Louisville the house median asking rent is $1,650 against $1,365 for all listings. That gap belongs in a house-to-house comparison, house rent against house sale prices, not on top of the mixed-sale ratio in the table. Volume and yield part ways: Louisville closes about 499 homes a month, more than any other city here, and ranks fifteenth on yield at 6.0 percent. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 23 Kentucky cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. Two more cities clear the closings bar but not the rental one and appear in a second table with entry price only.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Florence, 9.1 percent gross

Rent is what puts Florence first here; on price alone it would sit tenth of 20. At $250,000 to buy and $1,900 a month to rent, Florence yields 9.1 percent gross on 197 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $169 per square foot. See the Florence page for the property mix and the price band.

2. Independence, 8.3 percent gross

Rent is what puts Independence second here; on price alone it would sit fifteenth of 20. Homes in Independence closed at a median of $309,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,132, a gross yield of 8.3 percent. The Independence market page carries the monthly figures.

3. Shepherdsville, 8.3 percent gross

Shepherdsville ranks third on yield but only eleventh on entry price: the $1,745 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in Shepherdsville closed at a median of $252,900 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,745, a gross yield of 8.3 percent. See the Shepherdsville page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Covington, 8.0 percent gross

Covington's rental sample is 64 percent apartments and condos while its sales are mostly houses, so the $1,500 asking median understates what a house rents for there: houses asked $1,600. Homes in Covington closed at a median of $224,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,500, a gross yield of 8.0 percent. Houses there closed at about $163 per square foot. Full detail is on the Covington market page.

5. Paducah, 7.9 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Paducah far: it is first cheapest on this list and fifth on yield, with rent of $1,300 against a $196,750 median price. The numbers: $196,750 median closed price across 224 closings, $1,300 median asking rent across 364 listings, 7.9 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $125 per square foot. See the Paducah page for the property mix and the price band.

6. Prospect, 6.8 percent gross

Rent is what puts Prospect sixth here; on price alone it would sit twentieth of 20. At $528,500 to buy and $3,000 a month to rent, Prospect yields 6.8 percent gross on 120 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $165 per square foot. See the Prospect page for the property mix and the price band.

7. Shelbyville, 6.7 percent gross

Rent is what puts Shelbyville seventh here; on price alone it would sit sixteenth of 20. At $321,000 to buy and $1,795 a month to rent, Shelbyville yields 6.7 percent gross on 152 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Shelbyville market page.

8. Mount Washington, 6.7 percent gross

Rent is what puts Mount Washington eighth here; on price alone it would sit fourteenth of 20. Homes in Mount Washington closed at a median of $305,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,700, a gross yield of 6.7 percent. Full detail is on the Mount Washington market page.

9. Georgetown, 6.5 percent gross

Georgetown ranks ninth on yield but only eighteenth on entry price: the $1,822 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $338,081 to buy and $1,822 a month to rent, Georgetown yields 6.5 percent gross on 398 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $182 per square foot. Full detail is on the Georgetown market page.

10. Somerset, 6.4 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Somerset far: it is fifth cheapest on this list and tenth on yield, with rent of $1,200 against a $223,750 median price. The numbers: $223,750 median closed price across 126 closings, $1,200 median asking rent across 185 listings, 6.4 percent gross. See the Somerset page for the property mix and the price band.

11. Bardstown, 6.4 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Bardstown far: it is seventh cheapest on this list and eleventh on yield, with rent of $1,250 against a $234,450 median price. Homes in Bardstown closed at a median of $234,450 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,250, a gross yield of 6.4 percent. The Bardstown market page carries the monthly figures.

12. Danville, 6.3 percent gross

Danville is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fourth on price, twelfth on yield, because a $215,000 home there rents for only $1,125. Homes in Danville closed at a median of $215,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,125, a gross yield of 6.3 percent. Houses there closed at about $136 per square foot. See the Danville page for the property mix and the price band.

13. Lawrenceburg, 6.2 percent gross

Lawrenceburg is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: eighth on price, thirteenth on yield, because a $240,800 home there rents for only $1,245. Homes in Lawrenceburg closed at a median of $240,800 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,245, a gross yield of 6.2 percent. Full detail is on the Lawrenceburg market page.

14. Owensboro, 6.0 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Owensboro far: it is second cheapest on this list and fourteenth on yield, with rent of $995 against a $200,000 median price. Homes in Owensboro closed at a median of $200,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $995, a gross yield of 6.0 percent. See the Owensboro page for the property mix and the price band.

15. Louisville, 6.0 percent gross

At $275,000 to buy and $1,365 a month to rent, Louisville yields 6.0 percent gross on 2,993 tracked closings. See the Louisville page for the property mix and the price band.

16. Winchester, 5.9 percent gross

Winchester is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: ninth on price, sixteenth on yield, because a $245,000 home there rents for only $1,200. Homes in Winchester closed at a median of $245,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,200, a gross yield of 5.9 percent. Houses there closed at about $151 per square foot. See the Winchester page for the property mix and the price band.

17. Lexington, 5.8 percent gross

The numbers: $349,900 median closed price across 2,331 closings, $1,695 median asking rent across 3,803 listings, 5.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $193 per square foot. The Lexington market page carries the monthly figures.

18. Elizabethtown, 5.7 percent gross

Elizabethtown is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: thirteenth on price, eighteenth on yield, because a $297,000 home there rents for only $1,400. Homes in Elizabethtown closed at a median of $297,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,400, a gross yield of 5.7 percent. Houses there closed at about $153 per square foot. The Elizabethtown market page carries the monthly figures.

19. Hopkinsville, 5.6 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Hopkinsville far: it is third cheapest on this list and nineteenth on yield, with rent of $1,000 against a $213,125 median price. At $213,125 to buy and $1,000 a month to rent, Hopkinsville yields 5.6 percent gross on 211 tracked closings. See the Hopkinsville page for the property mix and the price band.

20. Nicholasville, 5.4 percent gross

Homes in Nicholasville closed at a median of $335,802 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,500, a gross yield of 5.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $185 per square foot. Full detail is on the Nicholasville market page.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

Resideline can price these cities but cannot yet rank them on rent: each has 100 or more closings and fewer than 50 rental listings in the window.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Kentucky city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since September 10, 2025: 23 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $275,000 across 27,877 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated September 10, 2026) and rental listings since September 10, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Kentucky rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Kentucky ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Kentucky cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Kentucky housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Kentucky markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.