?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · Kentucky

Best cities to put your HQ in Kentucky

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Pick an HQ” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

Re-rank for your priorities
Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Richmond, KY37k residents

    70/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 34.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,043/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

  2. 2.Nicholasville, KY32k residents

    64/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 26.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,064/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

  3. 3.Jeffersontown, KY29k residents

    62/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 39.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,203/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

  4. 4.Bowling Green, KY75k residents

    61/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 31.2% · avg. weekly wage: $1,090/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

  5. 5.Elizabethtown, KY33k residents

    61/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 28.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,076/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

  6. 6.Frankfort, KY29k residents

    60/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 28.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,205/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

  7. 7.Owensboro, KY60k residents

    59/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 26.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,086/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

  8. 8.Lexington, KY324k residents

    58/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 48.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,282/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

  9. 9.Hopkinsville, KY31k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 23.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,081/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

  10. 10.Florence, KY33k residents

    56/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 26.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,163/wk · corporate income tax: 5%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best to put your HQ in Kentucky?
Richmond, KY ranks first with a fit score of 70/100, followed by Nicholasville (64) and Jeffersontown (62), using the "Pick an HQ" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.