City · Pulaski County, Kentucky

Somerset, Kentucky

Somerset is a city in Pulaski County, Kentucky, part of the Somerset, KY metro area. It has 12,216 residents. Somerset, Kentucky has a quality-of-life score of 23 out of 100 (low), ranking #12,093 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kentucky it ranks #162 of 243 cities and towns. It ranks best on math scores (high), child care cost burden (low) and reading scores (high). It ranks worst on income inequality (Gini index) (high), median household income (low) and primary care shortage (high).

23Low

Quality-of-life score: #12,093 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kentucky: #162 of 243 in KY
Population: 12,216 (2020-2024)
Land area: 15 mi²
Density: 806.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 2171688

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 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.

Safety52#7,435/15,637
Economy3#15,114/15,631
Housing67#5,012/14,977
Health5#14,864/15,609
Healthcare25#11,785/15,650
Environment84#2,513/15,453
Education59#6,460/15,649
Infrastructure4#14,957/15,650
Community11#13,853/15,651
Leisure & amenities29#11,176/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Math scores · high3.49
96/100Kentucky 3.00United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePulaski County value
Child care cost burden · low20.1%
94/100Kentucky 25.2%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePulaski County value
Reading scores · high3.34
91/100Kentucky 3.05United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePulaski County value
Property crime rate · low473 /100k
91/100Kentucky 1,262 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationPulaski County value
Pharmacies · high2.5 /10k
90/100Kentucky 2.4 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPulaski County value
Mental health providers · high519 /100k
89/100Kentucky 329 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePulaski County value

Weaknesses

Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.538
2/100Kentucky 0.477United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Median household income · low$34,704
3/100Kentucky $64,481United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Primary care shortage · high19.0
3/100Kentucky 10.2United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationPulaski County value
Dental care shortage · high19.0
3/100Kentucky 10.9United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationPulaski County value
Depression · high30.9%
4/100Kentucky 27.4%United States 20.7%2022Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Poverty rate · high27.2%
4/100Kentucky 15.4%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001

Trends

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

PopulationRising
11,447 (2015-2019) → 12,216 (2020-2024)
+6.7%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
73.5% (2015-2019) → 83.6% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
41.6% (2015-2019) → 32.8% (2020-2024)
−8.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Average commute timeWorsening
17.5 min (2015-2019) → 23.7 min (2020-2024)
+36%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
High school diploma or higherImproving
78.6% (2015-2019) → 84.5% (2020-2024)
+5.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
14.7% (2015-2019) → 19.9% (2020-2024)
+5.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

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, Somerset, Kentucky improved on 2 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 13 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

Bachelor's++5.2 points14.7% → 19.9%
Broadband+10 points73.5% → 83.6%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Somerset, Kentucky between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.5 min2015-2019	23.7 min2020-2024	+6.2 min	Within the margin of error	7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.7%2015-2019	19.9%2020-2024	+5.2 points	Improved	69%
Broadband subscriptions	73.5%2015-2019	83.6%2020-2024	+10 points	Improved	60%
Child poverty rate	41.6%2015-2019	32.8%2020-2024	−8.8 points	Within the margin of error	80%
Effective property tax rate	0.59%2015-2019	0.70%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	6%
High school diploma or higher	78.6%2015-2019	84.5%2020-2024	+5.9 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Home price to income ratio	4.0×2015-2019	4.1×2020-2024	+0.1×	Within the margin of error	72%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5652015-2019	0.5382020-2024	−0.026	Within the margin of error	72%
Median household income	$29,6112015-2019	$34,7042020-2024	+17%	Within the margin of error	27%
Poverty rate	31.4%2015-2019	27.2%2020-2024	−4.2 points	Within the margin of error	77%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	35.4%2015-2019	32.0%2020-2024	−3.4 points	Within the margin of error	76%
Rent-burdened households	57.5%2015-2019	54.3%2020-2024	−3.2 points	Within the margin of error	67%
Unemployment rate	9.2%2015-2019	8.7%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	59%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	12.5%2015-2019	10.5%2020-2024	−2.1 points	Within the margin of error	69%

“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 Somerset, Kentucky five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Somerset, 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, Somerset, Kentucky itself moved +0.3 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

12,216 residents (±51)

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

4,951 households (±328)

Somerset, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Under $25k34%1,673
$25k–50k29%1,444
$50k–75k10%†508

Homes

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

Owners and renters

4,951 households (±328)

Somerset, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Own49%2,419
Rent51%2,532

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

4,449 workers (±407)

Somerset, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Drive alone71%3,175
Carpool16%†716
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 Somerset, 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 Pulaski County, the county holding most of Somerset's residents.

Pulaski County has 1,454 employer establishments, 220 for every 10,000 residents (0.88× the US rate of 248; 1.06× Kentucky's), with 21,712 paid employees at an average annual pay of $44,074. The Census Bureau also counts 5,719 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,454; 5,719 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 220; US 248 · Kentucky 207
Paid employees: 21,712
Average annual pay: $44,074; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	158	23.9	1.14×About typical	2,187	$66,163	286
Restaurants and other eating places	93	14	0.76×Fewer than typical	2,431	$18,302	19
Specialty trade contractors	81	12.2	0.79×Fewer than typical	732	$53,680	572
Offices of physicians	53	8	1.24×About typical	710	$98,539	73
Limited-service restaurants	50	7.5	0.94×About typical	1,343	$16,937	5
Religious organizations	48	7.2	1.31×More than typical	215	$20,795	—
Lessors of real estate	47	7.1	0.58×Fewer than typical	198	$26,258	603
Building equipment contractors	41	6.2	1.03×About typical	516	$54,409	95
Gasoline stations	40	6	1.86×More than typical	213	$19,408	—
Offices of other health practitioners	40	6	0.99×About typical	300	$41,857	135
General merchandise stores	36	5.4	3.08×More than typical	803	$26,560	64
Full-service restaurants	35	5.3	0.69×Fewer than typical	971	$19,553	8

Rank places for an industry Open Pulaski County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 66,237 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 $332.5K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Somerset, Kentucky: $27.22 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $332.5K; +67% vs FY2025
Per resident: $27.22; US $1,994
Sole-source: 90%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.1%; 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

Federal Prison System / Bureau of Prisons$303.9K91%
Department of the Army$19.2K5.8%
Department of the Navy$9,3762.8%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

71.9KFY2017
76.7KFY2018
238.5KFY2019
60.1KFY2020
111.6KFY2021
82.9KFY2022
50.1KFY2023
92.9K

Top industries (NAICS)

General medical and surgical hospitals · 6221$298.3K90%
Facilities support services · 5612$15.8K4.7%
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$9,3762.8%
Outpatient care centers · 6214$5,5981.7%
RV parks and recreational camps · 7212$2,0490.6%
Wired and wireless telecommunications carriers · 5173$1,228

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

Somerset, Kentucky's figures are part of those of Pulaski County, KY ($8.4M in FY2026), never added to them: 3.9% of that total.

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

See federal money in Pulaski 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.

Somerset, 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.

Pulaski County32100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Somerset, KY22

Other cities and towns in Pulaski 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/2171688

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends