City · Todd County, Kentucky

Guthrie, Kentucky

Guthrie is a city in Todd County, Kentucky. It has 1,559 residents. Guthrie, Kentucky has a quality-of-life score of 13 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,613 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kentucky it ranks #222 of 243 cities and towns. It ranks best on reading scores (high), job growth (high) and math scores (high). It ranks worst on adult smoking (high), dentists (low) and unemployment rate (high).

13Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,613 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kentucky: #222 of 243 in KY
Population: 1,559 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 657.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 2133562

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 71 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety42#9,010/15,637
Economy3#15,110/15,631
Housing81#2,862/14,977
Health1#15,433/15,609
Healthcare1#15,545/15,650
Environment23#11,975/15,453
Education52#7,487/15,649
Infrastructure14#13,450/15,650
Community29#11,159/15,651
Leisure & amenities23#11,985/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Guthrie, Kentucky ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Todd County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Reading scores · high3.44
97/100Kentucky 3.05United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTodd County value
Job growth · high3.8%
96/100Kentucky -0.4%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataTodd County value
Math scores · high3.47
95/100Kentucky 3.00United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTodd County value
Grocery stores · high3.1 /10k
95/100Kentucky 1.6 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsTodd County value
Property crime rate · low350 /100k
95/100Kentucky 1,262 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationTodd County value
Social associations · high16.0 /10k
94/100Kentucky 10.3 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTodd County value

Weaknesses

Adult smoking · high28.0%
1/100Kentucky 17.6%United States 16.1%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Dentists · low8 /100k
1/100Kentucky 67 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTodd County value
Unemployment rate · high16.5%
2/100Kentucky 4.6%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Poor or fair health · high34.8%
2/100Kentucky 20.3%United States 19.9%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Traffic deaths · high40.1 /100k
3/100Kentucky 17.0 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataTodd County value
Dental care shortage · high19.0
3/100Kentucky 10.9United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationTodd County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
1,291 (2015-2019) → 1,559 (2020-2024)
+21%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedImproving
0.8 /1k (2021) → 6.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+708%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
44.1% (2015-2019) → 78.5% (2020-2024)
+34 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
61.0% (2015-2019) → 46.4% (2020-2024)
−15 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
High school diploma or higherImproving
71.9% (2015-2019) → 82.4% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Poverty rateImproving
42.9% (2015-2019) → 33.0% (2020-2024)
−9.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Guthrie, Kentucky improved on 1 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Broadband+34 points44.1% → 78.5%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Guthrie, Kentucky between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	18.2 min2015-2019	27.1 min2020-2024	+9.0 min	Within the margin of error	3%
Broadband subscriptions	44.1%2015-2019	78.5%2020-2024	+34 points	Improved	99%
Child poverty rate	61.0%2015-2019	46.4%2020-2024	−15 points	Within the margin of error	88%
High school diploma or higher	71.9%2015-2019	82.4%2020-2024	+10 points	Within the margin of error	96%
Home price to income ratio	3.1×2015-2019	3.7×2020-2024	+0.7×	Within the margin of error	37%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4642015-2019	0.5152020-2024	+0.051	Within the margin of error	16%
Median household income	$25,2502015-2019	$35,9522020-2024	+42%	Within the margin of error	77%
Poverty rate	42.9%2015-2019	33.0%2020-2024	−9.9 points	Within the margin of error	93%
Rent as share of income	32.4%2015-2019	37.7%2020-2024	+5.3 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	13.3%2015-2019	22.0%2020-2024	+8.7 points	Within the margin of error	4%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Guthrie, Kentucky five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Guthrie, Kentucky in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Guthrie, Kentucky itself moved −9.3 points in standing on average over the same 7 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,559 residents (±359)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

590 households (±149)

Guthrie, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Under $25k38%†223
$25k–50k20%†116
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

590 households (±149)

Guthrie, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Own55%†324
Rent45%†266

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

531 workers (±162)

Guthrie, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Drive alone74%†393
Carpool12%†66
Public transit

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Todd County, the county holding most of Guthrie's residents.

Todd County has 208 employer establishments, 165 for every 10,000 residents (0.67× the US rate of 248; 0.80× Kentucky's), with 1,794 paid employees at an average annual pay of $47,108. The Census Bureau also counts 1,118 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 208; 1,118 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 165; US 248 · Kentucky 207
Paid employees: 1,794
Average annual pay: $47,108; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Todd County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Religious organizations	20	15.9	2.87×More than typical	48	$14,896	—
Specialty trade contractors	13	10.3	0.67×Fewer than typical	87	$65,310	213
Restaurants and other eating places	10	8	0.43×Fewer than typical	95	$20,274	5
Ambulatory health care services	9	7.2	0.34×Too few to compare	95	$45,537	23
Truck transportation	9	7.2	1.42×Too few to compare	93	$64,699	46
Banks and credit unions	7	5.6	1.72×Too few to compare	56	$50,286	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	5	4	0.79×Too few to compare	14	$44,429	38
Building equipment contractors	5	4	0.66×Too few to compare	30	$57,500	19
Building material and supplies dealers (hardware, home centers)	5	4	2.41×Too few to compare	63	$41,651	7
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	5	4	1.26×Too few to compare	13	$50,077	43
Full-service restaurants	5	4	0.52×Too few to compare	35	$26,914	—
Gasoline stations	5	4	1.23×Too few to compare	46	$29,435	—

Rank places for an industry Open Todd County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 12,575 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $5,141 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Guthrie, Kentucky: $3.30 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $5,141; −21% vs FY2025
Per resident: $3.30; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Agricultural Marketing Service$5,141100%

Top recipients

CAL-MAINE FOODS, INC$5,141100.0%

Spending by fiscal year

9.7KFY2017
8.9KFY2018
3.1KFY2019
4.4KFY2020
25.1KFY2022
20.9KFY2023
14KFY2024
6.5KFY2025

Top industries (NAICS)

Other food manufacturing · 3119$5,141100.0%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Guthrie, Kentucky, so they do not add up across cities.

Guthrie, Kentucky's figures are part of those of Todd County, KY ($125.5K in FY2026), never added to them: 4.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Guthrie is mostly in Todd County.

See federal money in Todd County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Guthrie, Kentucky is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

James ComerR-KY-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 2.4%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Todd County20100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Todd County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2133562

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends