Safest Counties in Kentucky: 19 Ranked (2026)
The 19 Kentucky counties where police report enough to the FBI to build a reliable rate, ranked by violent crime, with home prices, asking rents and incomes where available.
Kentucky has 120 counties. Nineteen of them clear the reporting bar this page uses, and the gap between the quietest, Shelby at 46 violent offenses per 100,000, and the busiest, Jefferson at 610, is 13 to one. Beside each rate sits what homes there closed at over the last 12 months, from 40,234 closing records Resideline tracked across all 19 counties.
The crime rates here are built from the 2,660,600 residents those police agencies actually report on, over the months they reported. Each figure is a single county-wide figure, so treat this as a way to narrow a search rather than a verdict on any street.
We do not treat missing or conflicting crime data as zero. A county appears here only when its reporting clears our reliability threshold, and we set aside results that conflict materially with the state's own records. Whether a county is ranked depends on its crime reporting alone; whether it shows a price depends on whether Resideline tracked enough closings there.
The ranking
| # | County | Violent per 100k | Property per 100k | Median closed price | Median asking rent | Median income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shelby | 46 | 664 | $324,120 | $1,600 | $93,720 |
| 2 | Oldham | 51 | 699 | $475,000 | $2,285 | $123,360 |
| 3 | Laurel | 68 | 619 | $205,000 | n/a | $54,404 |
| 4 | Bullitt | 73 | 759 | $300,000 | $1,450 | $85,779 |
| 5 | Boone | 105 | 894 | $350,000 | $2,095 | $103,122 |
| 6 | Campbell | 108 | 1,158 | $271,000 | $1,500 | $76,744 |
| 7 | Kenton | 121 | 647 | $275,122 | $1,535 | $82,787 |
| 8 | Hardin | 125 | 735 | $269,000 | $1,150 | $70,505 |
| 9 | Scott | 130 | 906 | $345,000 | $1,900 | $93,893 |
| 10 | Jessamine | 134 | 1,094 | $359,000 | $1,450 | $71,861 |
| 11 | Warren | 147 | 1,576 | $296,950 | $1,116 | $67,824 |
| 12 | Pulaski | 148 | 482 | $250,000 | $1,200 | $56,318 |
| 13 | McCracken | 168 | 1,310 | $221,000 | $1,350 | $64,076 |
| 14 | Madison | 168 | 913 | $300,000 | $1,205 | $64,536 |
| 15 | Franklin | 194 | 1,142 | $250,000 | $950 | $63,103 |
| 16 | Christian | 210 | 1,385 | $220,000 | $1,145 | $56,457 |
| 17 | Fayette | 255 | 2,204 | $343,046 | $1,700 | $71,046 |
| 18 | Daviess | 269 | 1,506 | $223,250 | $1,195 | $68,015 |
| 19 | Jefferson | 610 | 3,391 | $265,000 | $1,350 | $70,659 |
A closer look at the 12 safest counties
1. Shelby County
Police in Shelby reported 46 violent offenses per 100,000 people, putting it in the lowest quarter of this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Homes there closed at a median of $324,120, about 118 percent of the median across this list. The ratio of price to local household income is 3.5, among the gentlest on this list. Property crime is low too, at 664 per 100,000, the bottom quarter of this list and 0.6 times the median comparable US county. The median rental listing asks $1,600 a month. Resideline publishes a separate page for Shelbyville, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
2. Oldham County
Oldham's violent crime rate is 51 per 100,000 residents, the lowest quarter among the Kentucky counties Resideline can measure. The median comparable US county records 245, so it is quieter than most of the country too. The median home closed at $475,000, roughly 173 percent of the middle figure for these counties. Both its crime rate and its price sit at the ends of this list, in the directions people expect them to. Households there earn a median of $123,360, about 175 percent of the median for these counties. Its property rate is also among the lowest here, 699 per 100,000, or 0.6 times the median comparable US county. For prices at street level, see Prospect, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
3. Laurel County
Police in Laurel reported 68 violent offenses per 100,000 people, putting it in the lowest quarter of this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Buyers there paid a median of $205,000, some 75 percent of the level across the counties measured. It lands in the bottom quarter for crime and the bottom quarter for price at the same time, which few counties manage. Median household income is $54,404, roughly 77 percent of the level across this list. Property crime is low too, at 619 per 100,000, the bottom quarter of this list and 0.5 times the median comparable US county. Resideline publishes a separate page for London, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
4. Bullitt County
Bullitt records 73 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, which places it in the lowest quarter of the Kentucky counties measured here. The median comparable US county records 245, so it is quieter than most of the country too. The median closed price, $300,000, sits near the center of the counties measured. Households there earn a median of $85,779, about 121 percent of the median for these counties. Property offenses run at 759 per 100,000, in the middle of this list. The median rental listing asks $1,450 a month. For prices at street level, see Shepherdsville, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
5. Boone County
Boone's violent crime rate is 105 per 100,000 residents, the lowest quarter among the Kentucky counties Resideline can measure. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Homes there closed at a median of $350,000, about 127 percent of the median across this list. Safe and expensive is the usual pairing on this list, and this is one of its clearest cases. A typical home costs 3.4 years of the median household's income, the low end of this list. At $2,095 a month in asking rent, the gross return here is in the top quarter of the counties measured. Resideline publishes a separate page for Florence, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
6. Campbell County
At 108 violent offenses per 100,000, Campbell sits in the middle range of the places on this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. The median closed price, $271,000, sits near the center of the counties measured. At $1,500 a month in asking rent, the gross return here is in the top quarter of the counties measured. Property offenses run at 1,158 per 100,000, in the middle of this list.
7. Kenton County
Kenton's violent crime rate is 121 per 100,000 residents, the middle range among the Kentucky counties Resideline can measure. The median comparable US county records 245, so it is quieter than most of the country too. At $275,122, its median closed price is unremarkable against the rest of this list. Local incomes go further here than almost anywhere else on this list, with homes at 3.3 times median household income. Asking rents of $1,535 a month against that price put it in the top quarter of this list for gross return. Property crime is low, at 647 per 100,000, the bottom quarter of this list and 0.5 times the median comparable US county. For prices at street level, see Covington, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
8. Hardin County
At 125 violent offenses per 100,000, Hardin sits in the middle range of the places on this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Homes there closed at a median of $269,000, close to the middle of this list. Property offenses run at 735 per 100,000, in the middle of this list. The median rental listing asks $1,150 a month. Resideline publishes a separate page for Elizabethtown, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
9. Scott County
Police in Scott reported 130 violent offenses per 100,000 people, putting it in the middle range of this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. The median home closed at $345,000, roughly 125 percent of the middle figure for these counties. Households there earn a median of $93,893, about 133 percent of the median for these counties. Asking rents of $1,900 a month against that price put it in the top quarter of this list for gross return. Its property rate, 906 per 100,000, sits in the middle of these counties. For prices at street level, see Georgetown, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
10. Jessamine County
At 134 violent offenses per 100,000, Jessamine sits in the middle range of the places on this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. Buyers there paid a median of $359,000, some 130 percent of the level across the counties measured. Homes cost 5.0 times what the median household there earns, among the steepest ratios on this list. Property offenses run at 1,094 per 100,000, in the middle of this list. The median rental listing asks $1,450 a month. Resideline publishes a separate page for Nicholasville, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
11. Warren County
Warren's violent crime rate is 147 per 100,000 residents, the middle range among the Kentucky counties Resideline can measure. The median comparable US county records 245, so it is quieter than most of the country too. Homes there closed at a median of $296,950, close to the middle of this list. Property crime is the higher of its two figures at 1,576 per 100,000, the top quarter of this list and 1.3 times the median comparable US county. Asking rents run about $1,116 a month. For prices at street level, see Bowling Green, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
12. Pulaski County
Police in Pulaski reported 148 violent offenses per 100,000 people, putting it in the middle range of this list. That is below the median comparable US county, which records 245. The median closed price, $250,000, sits near the center of the counties measured. A typical home costs 4.4 years of the median household's income, near the top of this list. Property crime is low, at 482 per 100,000, the bottom quarter of this list and 0.4 times the median comparable US county. Asking rents run about $1,200 a month. Resideline publishes a separate page for Somerset, the market with the most tracked closings in this county's ZIP codes.
Does safety set the price in Kentucky?
Somewhat, and less than you would expect. The safest third of these counties runs 21 percent above the highest-crime third on price. The same safe places also earn 35 percent more, so income explains part of the raw gap. This state-level comparison does not isolate density, housing mix or other factors that may explain the remainder.
That matches what we found nationally: across 688 counties, once income and other county characteristics are controlled for, a crime rate stops predicting home prices. The full analysis is in our study of crime and home prices.
That is a county-level result. Within a county, research at the scale of a block or a neighborhood finds that violent crime does lower the value of the homes nearest to it, so use these figures to compare counties, not streets.
Where safety and affordability overlap in Kentucky
Five of the 6 safest counties on this list also cost no more than the list's median once prices are set against local incomes: Shelby (46 violent per 100,000, a home at 3.5 times median household income); Laurel (68 violent per 100,000, a home at 3.8 times median household income); Bullitt (73 violent per 100,000, a home at 3.5 times median household income); Boone (105 violent per 100,000, a home at 3.4 times median household income); Campbell (108 violent per 100,000, a home at 3.5 times median household income). Against what households there earn, those are the counties where a low crime rate is not being charged for.
The counties we cannot rank
Counties with a lower violent crime rate than Shelby that we could not rank: Pike at 18 per 100,000, which falls outside one of the sanity bounds we apply to the published rates.
Reporting to the FBI is voluntary and incomplete. Where a place's agencies cover only part of its population, the rate is built on the part that reported, so it describes those communities rather than the whole area. We publish at 90 percent coverage or better, which is a line we chose rather than a point where the data becomes reliable.
How to read this list
These figures describe whole areas. A quiet town and a rough district an hour apart carry the same number here, so the ranking is a starting point for a search rather than a description of any particular street.
Prices and rents are as of September 9, 2026, from closings and rental listings Resideline tracks over the previous 12 months; a price is shown where at least 100 closings were tracked and a rent where at least 50 listings were. Rent figures are the median asking rent on listings, not lease figures. Crime is the 2025 FBI Crime Data Explorer release, measured for the whole county over the months each agency reported, and violent crime means murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Household income is the Census SAIPE 2024 estimate of the county's median household income; population is the Census 2024 estimate. Where this page compares a rate with the median comparable US county, that figure (245 violent and 1188 property offenses per 100,000) is the median across the 874 US counties with at least 50,000 residents whose agencies reported on 90 percent or more of them for the year.
Sources and related pages
- •Crime: FBI Crime Data Explorer, agency-level offense counts for 2025, aggregated by county over the months each agency reported.
- •Income: Census SAIPE 2024, county median household income.
- •Population: Census county population estimates, vintage 2024.
- •Prices and rents: Resideline's tracked closings and rental listings, 12 months to September 2026.
- •Related: Safest counties by state; Does crime actually lower home prices?; Kentucky housing market; Safest counties in Illinois; Safest counties in Indiana; Safest counties in Missouri; Safest counties in Ohio; Safest counties in Tennessee; Safest counties in Virginia; Safest counties in West Virginia.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the safest county in Kentucky?
Of the 19 Kentucky counties measured here, Shelby County records the lowest violent crime rate at 46 offenses per 100,000 residents, against 245 for the median comparable US county. Homes there closed at a median of $324,120 over the last 12 months.
Is this every county in Kentucky?
No. It covers 19 of the state's 120 counties, the ones where police agencies report at least 90 percent of the population to the FBI, the area has at least 50,000 residents, and the resulting rate falls inside the sanity bounds we apply. Whether Resideline has enough sales there decides only whether a price is shown. No place above 150,000 residents was excluded.
Does a lower crime rate mean higher home prices?
Less than most people assume. Comparing the safest third of these counties with the highest-crime third, the median closed price is 21 percent higher and household income 35 percent higher. Across 688 US counties we found that once income and other county characteristics are controlled for, a county's crime rate stops predicting its home prices. At the scale of a block, the research says violent crime does lower nearby values.
Is this crime rate for my neighborhood?
No. The FBI publishes these figures for whole counties, so every part of a county carries the same number here, from its densest district to its farmland. It is useful for narrowing a search and not a substitute for looking at a specific address.
Are these rents asking rents or lease rents?
They are the median asking rent on rental listings in the county over the last 12 months. That is what landlords advertised, a guide to the market rather than a lease figure.
About the author
Jeffrey Batista
Jeffrey Batista is the founder of Resideline, a real estate technology company building institutional grade valuation and investment analysis tools for real estate investors.
A software engineer with more than 10 years of experience, Jeffrey has worked across full stack development, infrastructure, data engineering, machine learning, and large scale systems. He left his engineering career to build Resideline full time.
Jeffrey is also a real estate investor with nearly a decade of hands on experience buying, renovating, managing, and analyzing residential properties. His experience on both sides of the industry, as an engineer and an investor, led him to build Resideline after seeing how fragmented and outdated many of the tools available to individual investors were.
Today, he leads the development of Resideline's proprietary data infrastructure, automated valuation models, rental analytics, and investment underwriting technology.