City · Rockcastle County, Kentucky

Mount Vernon, Kentucky

Mount Vernon is a city in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, part of the Richmond-Berea, KY metro area. It has 2,398 residents. Mount Vernon, Kentucky has a quality-of-life score of 18 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,875 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kentucky it ranks #193 of 243 cities and towns. It ranks best on violent crime rate (low), property crime rate (low) and pharmacies (high). It ranks worst on drug overdose deaths (high), flu vaccinations (low) and life expectancy (low).

18Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,875 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kentucky: #193 of 243 in KY
Population: 2,398 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 852.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 2154174

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 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.

Safety57#6,723/15,637
Economy6#14,682/15,631
Housing95#789/14,977
Health3#15,098/15,609
Healthcare12#13,789/15,650
Environment56#6,789/15,453
Education37#9,862/15,649
Infrastructure7#14,501/15,650
Community9#14,215/15,651
Leisure & amenities24#11,947/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Violent crime rate · low41 /100k
98/100Kentucky 212 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationRockcastle County value
Property crime rate · low294 /100k
97/100Kentucky 1,262 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationRockcastle County value
Pharmacies · high2.5 /10k
89/100Kentucky 2.4 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsRockcastle County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.49%
89/100Kentucky 0.75%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Kentucky 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockcastle County value
Child care cost burden · low22.7%
85/100Kentucky 25.2%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockcastle County value

Weaknesses

Drug overdose deaths · high67.9 /100k
1/100Kentucky 23.1 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataRockcastle County value
Flu vaccinations · low19.0%
1/100Kentucky 43.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockcastle County value
Life expectancy · low68.3 yrs
1/100Kentucky 73.6 yrsUnited States 77.6 yrs2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockcastle County value
Dentists · low12 /100k
1/100Kentucky 67 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockcastle County value
Premature death · high17,652 /100k
2/100Kentucky 11,364 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockcastle County value
Average weekly wage · low$843
2/100Kentucky $1,202United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsRockcastle County value

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
2,701 (2015-2019) → 2,398 (2020-2024)
−11%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
48.3% (2015-2019) → 66.7% (2020-2024)
+18 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
60.9% (2015-2019) → 44.7% (2020-2024)
−16 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$23,192 (2015-2019) → $38,697 (2020-2024)
+67%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent as share of incomeImproving
39.2% (2015-2019) → 26.1% (2020-2024)
−13 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Average commute timeWorsening
15.4 min (2015-2019) → 22.3 min (2020-2024)
+45%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min

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 Vernon, Kentucky improved on 2 of 13 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.

Improved2

Household income+67%$23,192 → $38,697
Rent burden−16 points60.9% → 44.7%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Mount Vernon, Kentucky between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	15.4 min2015-2019	22.3 min2020-2024	+7.0 min	Within the margin of error	5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.3%2015-2019	12.0%2020-2024	−6.3 points	Within the margin of error	5%
Broadband subscriptions	68.3%2015-2019	75.6%2020-2024	+7.3 points	Within the margin of error	45%
Child poverty rate	48.3%2015-2019	66.7%2020-2024	+18 points	Within the margin of error	5%
Effective property tax rate	0.68%2015-2019	0.48%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	58%
High school diploma or higher	77.2%2015-2019	77.6%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Home price to income ratio	3.7×2015-2019	2.9×2020-2024	−0.8×	Within the margin of error	97%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4882015-2019	0.4842020-2024	−0.004	Within the margin of error	54%
Median household income	$23,1922015-2019	$38,6972020-2024	+67%	Improved	93%
Poverty rate	35.8%2015-2019	32.7%2020-2024	−3.1 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Rent as share of income	39.2%2015-2019	26.1%2020-2024	−13 points	Within the margin of error	96%
Rent-burdened households	60.9%2015-2019	44.7%2020-2024	−16 points	Improved	90%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.1%2015-2019	8.3%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	56%

“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 Vernon, Kentucky five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Mount Vernon, 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 Vernon, Kentucky itself moved +10.1 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

2,398 residents (±363)

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

999 households (±161)

Mount Vernon, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Under $25k39%394
$25k–50k19%†192
$50k–75k15%†152

Homes

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

Owners and renters

999 households (±161)

Mount Vernon, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Own50%504
Rent50%495

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

795 workers (±161)

Mount Vernon, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Drive alone84%666
Carpool7.5%†60
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 Richmond-Berea, 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 Rockcastle County, the county holding most of Mount Vernon's residents.

Rockcastle County has 209 employer establishments, 129 for every 10,000 residents (0.52× the US rate of 248; 0.62× Kentucky's), with 3,060 paid employees at an average annual pay of $40,327. The Census Bureau also counts 1,066 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 209; 1,066 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 129; US 248 · Kentucky 207
Paid employees: 3,060
Average annual pay: $40,327; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	17	10.5	0.57×Fewer than typical	256	$15,547	—
Specialty trade contractors	15	9.3	0.60×Fewer than typical	88	$47,045	137
Gasoline stations	12	7.4	2.29×More than typical	43	$20,233	—
Ambulatory health care services	11	6.8	0.33×Fewer than typical	106	$52,094	42
Limited-service restaurants	10	6.2	0.77×Fewer than typical	228	$15,548	—
General merchandise stores	9	5.6	3.15×Too few to compare	63	$22,000	15
Religious organizations	9	5.6	1.00×Too few to compare	20	$21,400	—
Full-service restaurants	7	4.3	0.56×Too few to compare	28	$15,536	—
Banks and credit unions	6	3.7	1.15×Too few to compare	46	$49,957	—
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	6	3.7	1.18×Too few to compare	29	$42,586	26
Individual and family services	6	3.7	1.33×Too few to compare	66	$50,015	7
Lessors of real estate	6	3.7	0.30×Too few to compare	39	$34,513	70

Rank places for an industry Open Rockcastle County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 16,150 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Mount Vernon, Kentucky: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

5.5KFY2017
8.4KFY2018
272FY2019
6.5KFY2020
9.4KFY2021
3.5KFY2022

What was bought

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 Vernon, Kentucky, so they do not add up across cities.

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

See federal money in Rockcastle 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 Vernon, Kentucky is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Harold RogersR-KY-5 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 1.8%

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.

Rockcastle County23100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Richmond-Berea, KY33

Other cities and towns in Rockcastle 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
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/2154174

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends