City · Union County, Kentucky

Sturgis, Kentucky

Sturgis is a city in Union County, Kentucky. It has 1,864 residents. Sturgis, Kentucky has a quality-of-life score of 19 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,616 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kentucky it ranks #182 of 243 cities and towns. It ranks best on grocery stores (high), public libraries (high) and time spent in the emergency room (low). It ranks worst on primary care shortage (high), food environment index (low) and public EV charging ports (low).

19Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,616 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kentucky: #182 of 243 in KY
Population: 1,864 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 1,190.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 2174316

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.

Safety54#7,138/15,637
Economy25#11,740/15,631
Housing73#4,042/14,977
Health11#13,959/15,609
Healthcare21#12,332/15,650
Environment4#14,827/15,453
Education25#11,720/15,649
Infrastructure24#11,871/15,650
Community22#12,173/15,651
Leisure & amenities69#4,896/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Grocery stores · high3.1 /10k
95/100Kentucky 1.6 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsUnion County value
Public libraries · high2.3 /10k
93/100Kentucky 0.6 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesUnion County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low112 min
91/100Kentucky 153 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesUnion County value
Property crime rate · low522 /100k
88/100Kentucky 1,262 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureUnion County value
Pharmacies · high2.3 /10k
85/100Kentucky 2.4 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsUnion County value
Home price to income ratio · low2.3×
83/100Kentucky 3.2×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077

Weaknesses

Primary care shortage · high20.0
1/100Kentucky 10.2United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationUnion County value
Food environment index · low5.4
2/100Kentucky 6.7United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteUnion County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Kentucky 2.6 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyUnion County value
Median household income · low$36,780
4/100Kentucky $64,481United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Distance to an airport · high123 mi
5/100Kentucky 44 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauUnion County value
Suicide rate · high27.1 /100k
6/100Kentucky 18.0 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataUnion County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
26.7% (2015-2019) → 58.1% (2020-2024)
+31 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
69.5% (2015-2019) → 86.4% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
19.8% (2015-2019) → 33.4% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
7.5% (2015-2019) → 14.4% (2020-2024)
+6.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.8× (2015-2019) → 2.3× (2020-2024)
+26%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Child poverty rateWorsening
20.4% (2015-2019) → 24.5% (2020-2024)
+4.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%

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

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined2

Rent burden+31 points26.7% → 58.1%
Rent / income+14 points19.8% → 33.4%

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Sturgis, Kentucky between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.8 min2015-2019	22.4 min2020-2024	+2.5 min	Within the margin of error	23%
Bachelor's degree or higher	7.5%2015-2019	14.4%2020-2024	+6.9 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Broadband subscriptions	69.5%2015-2019	86.4%2020-2024	+17 points	Within the margin of error	85%
Effective property tax rate	0.67%2015-2019	0.71%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	11%
High school diploma or higher	87.3%2015-2019	90.0%2020-2024	+2.7 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Home price to income ratio	1.8×2015-2019	2.3×2020-2024	+0.5×	Within the margin of error	49%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3992015-2019	0.4782020-2024	+0.079	Within the margin of error	8%
Median household income	$40,9802015-2019	$36,7802020-2024	−10%	Within the margin of error	3%
Poverty rate	19.7%2015-2019	16.4%2020-2024	−3.3 points	Within the margin of error	71%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	19.8%2015-2019	33.4%2020-2024	+14 points	Declined	6%
Rent-burdened households	26.7%2015-2019	58.1%2020-2024	+31 points	Declined	2%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	6.7%2015-2019	5.9%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	57%

“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 Sturgis, Kentucky five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sturgis, 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, Sturgis, Kentucky itself moved −21 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

1,864 residents (±338)

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

795 households (±142)

Sturgis, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Under $25k38%†306
$25k–50k23%†183
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

795 households (±142)

Sturgis, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Own59%467
Rent41%†328

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

708 workers (±168)

Sturgis, Kentucky
Kentucky share

Drive alone88%624
Carpool7.1%†50
Public transit0.0%0

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 Union County, the county holding most of Sturgis's residents.

Union County has 249 employer establishments, 190 for every 10,000 residents (0.77× the US rate of 248; 0.92× Kentucky's), with 3,980 paid employees at an average annual pay of $57,277. The Census Bureau also counts 692 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 249; 692 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 190; US 248 · Kentucky 207
Paid employees: 3,980
Average annual pay: $57,277; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	22	16.8	0.92×About typical	280	$15,379	5
Ambulatory health care services	17	13	0.62×Fewer than typical	111	$62,414	18
Religious organizations	14	10.7	1.93×More than typical	68	$25,941	—
Gasoline stations	11	8.4	2.59×More than typical	74	$30,351	—
Limited-service restaurants	11	8.4	1.05×About typical	177	$14,401	3
Specialty trade contractors	11	8.4	0.54×Fewer than typical	93	$58,914	55
Full-service restaurants	9	6.9	0.90×Too few to compare	98	$16,765	—
General merchandise stores	9	6.9	3.89×Too few to compare	204	$29,926	4
Offices of other health practitioners	8	6.1	1.01×Too few to compare	42	$45,500	9
Truck transportation	8	6.1	1.21×Too few to compare	41	$70,878	13
Banks and credit unions	7	5.3	1.66×Too few to compare	66	$56,015	—
Individual and family services	7	5.3	1.91×Too few to compare	113	$49,239	8

Rank places for an industry Open Union County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 13,091 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 Sturgis, 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

0FY2017
95.3FY2018
40.9FY2019

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

Sturgis, Kentucky's figures are part of those of Union County, KY ($15.4K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Union 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.

Sturgis, 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.

Union County36100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Union 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/2174316

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends