City · Montgomery County, Kentucky

Mount Sterling, Kentucky

Mount Sterling is a city in Montgomery County, Kentucky, part of the Mount Sterling, KY metro area. It has 7,551 residents. Mount Sterling, Kentucky has a quality-of-life score of 33 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,544 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kentucky it ranks #103 of 243 cities and towns. It ranks best on rent-burdened households (low), homicide rate (low) and rent as share of income (low). It ranks worst on access to exercise opportunities (low), adult smoking (high) and depression (high).

33Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,544 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kentucky: #103 of 243 in KY
Population: 7,551 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 1,679.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 2154084

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety69#4,910/15,637
Economy22#12,181/15,631
Housing94#893/14,977
Health3#15,214/15,609
Healthcare39#9,624/15,650
Environment68#5,018/15,453
Education37#9,908/15,649
Infrastructure27#11,424/15,650
Community10#14,103/15,651
Leisure & amenities36#10,000/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Mount Sterling, Kentucky ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Montgomery 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

Rent-burdened households · low25.7%
99/100Kentucky 45.4%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Kentucky 5.5 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataMontgomery County value
Rent as share of income · low23.9%
94/100Kentucky 28.1%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Child care cost burden · low22.3%
87/100Kentucky 25.2%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMontgomery County value
Grocery stores · high2.4 /10k
87/100Kentucky 1.6 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMontgomery County value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Kentucky 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMontgomery County value

Weaknesses

Access to exercise opportunities · low32.2%
3/100Kentucky 69.8%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMontgomery County value
Adult smoking · high22.9%
4/100Kentucky 17.6%United States 16.1%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Depression · high29.5%
6/100Kentucky 27.4%United States 20.7%2022Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Premature death · high13,907 /100k
6/100Kentucky 11,364 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMontgomery County value
Preventable hospital stays · high4,227 /100k
6/100Kentucky 3,415 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMontgomery County value
Life expectancy · low71.7 yrs
7/100Kentucky 73.6 yrsUnited States 77.6 yrs2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMontgomery County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
7,166 (2015-2019) → 7,551 (2020-2024)
+5.4%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedImproving
0.9 /1k (2021) → 1.9 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+99%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
40.5% (2015-2019) → 25.7% (2020-2024)
−15 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
29.7% (2015-2019) → 18.7% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
78.8% (2015-2019) → 88.7% (2020-2024)
+9.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Poverty rateImproving
24.8% (2015-2019) → 16.9% (2020-2024)
−7.9 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, Mount Sterling, Kentucky improved on 3 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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.

Improved3

Rent burden−15 points40.5% → 25.7%
Broadband+9.9 points78.8% → 88.7%
Household income+31%$42,460 → $55,827

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Mount Sterling, Kentucky between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	18.0 min2015-2019	23.0 min2020-2024	+5.0 min	Within the margin of error	10%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.8%2015-2019	23.6%2020-2024	+3.7 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Broadband subscriptions	78.8%2015-2019	88.7%2020-2024	+9.9 points	Improved	59%
Child poverty rate	29.7%2015-2019	18.7%2020-2024	−11 points	Within the margin of error	84%
Effective property tax rate	0.87%2015-2019	0.73%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	44%
High school diploma or higher	89.0%2015-2019	88.9%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	31%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	+0.3×	Within the margin of error	60%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4442015-2019	0.4212020-2024	−0.023	Within the margin of error	70%
Median household income	$42,4602015-2019	$55,8272020-2024	+31%	Improved	58%
Poverty rate	24.8%2015-2019	16.9%2020-2024	−7.9 points	Within the margin of error	89%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	25.7%2015-2019	23.9%2020-2024	−1.8 points	Within the margin of error	68%
Rent-burdened households	40.5%2015-2019	25.7%2020-2024	−15 points	Improved	89%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	7.4%2015-2019	9.4%2020-2024	+2 points	Within the margin of error	26%

“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 Mount Sterling, Kentucky five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Mount Sterling, 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, Mount Sterling, Kentucky itself moved +2 points in standing on average over the same 10 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

7,551 residents (±19)

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

3,071 households (±212)

Mount Sterling, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Under $25k24%†739
$25k–50k21%†650
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

3,071 households (±212)

Mount Sterling, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Own52%1,599
Rent48%1,472

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

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

3,545 workers (±330)

Mount Sterling, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Drive alone84%2,983
Carpool6.9%†246
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Mount Sterling, KY

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 Montgomery County, the county holding most of Mount Sterling's residents.

Montgomery County has 560 employer establishments, 196 for every 10,000 residents (0.79× the US rate of 248; 0.95× Kentucky's), with 9,707 paid employees at an average annual pay of $43,722. The Census Bureau also counts 1,932 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 560; 1,932 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 196; US 248 · Kentucky 207
Paid employees: 9,707
Average annual pay: $43,722; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	61	21.4	1.03×About typical	529	$62,212	61
Restaurants and other eating places	35	12.3	0.67×Fewer than typical	826	$19,178	9
Specialty trade contractors	30	10.5	0.68×Fewer than typical	223	$53,278	223
Religious organizations	21	7.4	1.33×More than typical	88	$29,057	—
Building equipment contractors	20	7	1.16×About typical	93	$37,656	51
Gasoline stations	20	7	2.16×More than typical	198	$19,379	—
Limited-service restaurants	19	6.7	0.83×About typical	502	$17,349	—
Offices of physicians	19	6.7	1.03×About typical	229	$70,454	7
Clothing and accessories stores	17	6	1.64×More than typical	153	$13,608	22
Lessors of real estate	16	5.6	0.46×Fewer than typical	27	$26,556	179
Outpatient care centers	16	5.6	3.05×More than typical	125	$48,536	—
Full-service restaurants	14	4.9	0.64×Fewer than typical	317	$21,956	4

Rank places for an industry Open Montgomery County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 28,534 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 $137.1K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Mount Sterling, Kentucky: $18.15 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $137.1K; −12% vs FY2025
Per resident: $18.15; US $1,994
Sole-source: 14%; US 30%
Single offer: 86%; 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

Forest Service$117.5K86%
Internal Revenue Service$19.6K14%

Top recipients

KENTUCKY AIRMOTIVE, INC$117.5K86%
GROFF ENGINEERING & CONSULTING PLLC$19.6K14%

Spending by fiscal year

25.6KFY2017
9.1KFY2018
2KFY2019
396.7FY2020
1.5KFY2021
62KFY2022
208.4KFY2023
55.8KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Nonscheduled air transportation · 4812$117.5K86%
Legal services · 5411$10.8K7.9%
Other professional, scientific, and technical services · 5419$8,7826.4%

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 Mount Sterling, Kentucky, so they do not add up across cities.

Mount Sterling, Kentucky's figures are part of those of Montgomery County, KY ($4M in FY2026), never added to them: 3.4% of that total.

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

See federal money in Montgomery 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.

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

House

Andy BarrR-KY-6 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 7.1%

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.

Montgomery County41100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Mount Sterling, KY20

Other cities and towns in Montgomery 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/2154084

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends