Economic Development

A true regional economy requires the collaboration of distinct communities working together to retain and attract an educated and plentiful workforce, enabling the region to grow, thrive and prosper. Only when each of us succeeds do we all succeed – and that includes our regional communities. The Greater Louisville economy and workforce transcend 15-counties across the bi-state area.

Greater Louisville offers a plethora of unique advantages including a central and strategic location and outstanding quality of life. The region not only offers varied landscapes and lifestyles, but also thriving industry eco-systems built on innovations in advanced manufacturing, business services, food and beverage, healthcare and aging innovation, e-commerce/logistics, and technology.

Greater Louisville Inc. is hard at work to support our local industries and provide grassroots services across industry sectors. In close collaboration with regional partners, GLI provides confidential relocation and economic development services.

Call on us for:

Site Selection / Assist with contact and coordination with real estate brokers
Community Networking / Provide introductions to business leaders across various industries
Talent Attraction / Collaborate with regional representatives to attract talented professionals
Talent Development / Connect businesses to workforce services and programs
Research / Provide data and research on various industries, the community, and other topics
Incentives / Facilitate introductions to community representatives to execute incentive opportunities

Greater Louisville Population Data

County	2000	2010	2019 (est.)	2020 (est.)
Bullitt (KY)	61,241	74,319	81,511	82,285
Clark (IN)	96,473	110,232	118,496	118,604
Floyd (IN)	70,821	74,578	77,560	78,467
Harrison (IN)	34,327	39,364	40,168	40,751
Henry (KY)	15,060	15,416	16,219	16,291
Jefferson (KY)	693,614	741,096	776,768	773,683
Oldham (KY)	46,179	60,316	67,780	67,344
Scott (IN)	22,960	24,181	23,947	23,921
Shelby (KY)	33,338	42,074	48,596	49,766
Spencer (KY)	11,765	17,061	18,853	19,166
Trimble (KY)	8,125	8,809	8,473	8,432
Washington (IN)	27,223	28,262	27,816	27,989
12 County Louisville MSA	1,121,126	1,235,708	1,306,187	1,306,699
Hardin (KY)	94,174	105,543	108,545	111,681
Meade (KY)	26,349	28,602	27,986	28,875
Nelson (KY)	37,477	43,437	46,013	46,207
15 County Advance Greater Louisville Region	1,279,126	1,413,290	1,488,731	1,493,462

Source: Environics Analytics, Claritas 2020

12-County Louisville MSA Age Distribution

Age	2000 (%)	2020 (est.%)
Under 18	24.6	19.5
18-24	8.8	7.5
25-34	13.6	11.6
35-44	17.1	11.2
45-54	12.8	11.2
55-64	10.6	11.8
65 and Over	12.5	14.7

12-County Louisville MSA
Source: Environics Analytics, Claritas 2019

15-County Greater Louisville Region Age Distribution

Age	2020 (est.%)
Under 18	22.5
18-24	8.7
25-34	13.2
35-44	12.8
45-54	12.9
55-64	13.4
65 and Over	16.6

Source: Environics Analytics, Claritas 2020

Crime Rate in the United States, 2019

Metropolitan Statistical Area	Violent Crime (Rate per 100,000 inhabitants)	Property Crime (Rate per 100,000 inhabitants)
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	436.8	2864.0
Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, KY	99.8	1,134.1
Austin-Round Rock, TX	286.9	2,410.2
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	698.7	2,358.5
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	277.7	n/a
Charleston-North Charleston, SC	398.0	2,678.8
Columbus, OH	286.5	2,390.3
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	477.5	2,140.7
Memphis, TN-MS-AR	1,120.5	4,053.4
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN	570.5	2,449.5
Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE	413.1	2,646.6
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	302.6	2,746.9
Salt Lake City, UT	366.7	3,333.6
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	n/a	1,626.1

Source: FBI.gov, 2019, https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/tables/table-6

Updated February 2021

2020 Estimated Average Travel Time to Work

Area	Travel Time in Minutes
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN MSA	22.6
Bullitt (KY)	26.9
Clark (IN)	22.9
Floyd (IN)	21.9
Harrison (IN)	29.8
Henry (KY)	27.6
Jefferson (KY)	21.3
Oldham (KY)	26.1
Scott (IN)	24.4
Shelby (KY)	24.6
Spencer (KY)	31.3
Trimble (KY)	25.0
Washington (IN)	29.9
Hardin (KY)	21.6
Meade (KY)	30.6
Nelson (KY)	25.0

Sources: Data USA

15-County Greater Louisville Educational Attainment

2020 Estimated Population Age 25+	1,028,877
Less than 9th grade	30,675	2.98%
Some High School, no diploma	71,341	6.93%
High School Graduate (or GED)	319,067	31.01%
Some College, No Degree	234,519	22.79%
Associate Degree	89,675	8.72%
Bachelor's Degree	169,869	16,51%
Master's Degree	83,623	8.13%
Professional School Degree	20,285	1.97%
Doctorate Degree	9,823	.95%

Source: Environics Analytics, Claritas 2020

Occupational Employment Statistics 12-County Louisville MSA

Occupation	Employment	Emp. RSE	Location Quotient	Median hourly wage	Mean hourly wage	Annual mean wage	Mean wage RSE
All Occupations	614,720	1.5%	1.00	$18.91	$23.66	$49,200	1.5%
Management Occupations	29,410	2.5%	.84	$43.47	$50.68	$105,410	1.4%
Business and Financial Operations Occupations	32,030	5.6%	.86	$30.68	$33.92	$70,560	1.2%
Computer and Mathematical Occupations	17,740	5.8%	.87	$37.07	$38.49	$80,060	1.3%
Architecture and Engineering Occupations	9,170	5.3%	.83	$34.58	$35.89	$74,660	1.9%
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	3,480	21.5%	.61	$30.21	$32.58	$67,780	3.3%
Community and Social Service Occupations	8,810	7.0%	.89	$20.29	$22.43	$46,650	3.1%
Legal Occupations	3,800	7.2%	.75	$34.96	$45.84	$95,340	5.4%
Education Instructional and Library Occupations	24,360	3.3%	.65	$23.33	$24.41	$50,770	3.0%
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations	5,930	7.0%	.72	$20.96	$23.35	$48,570	2.3%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	40,950	4.0%	1.08	$28.87	$34.51	$71,780	2.4%
Healthcare Support Occupations	21,860	4.4%	.77	$14.98	$15.80	$32,870	1.2%
Protective Service Occupations	10,820	4.7%	.73	$15.01	$17.95	$37,340	3.4%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	48,210	1.9%	.97	$10.49	$11.76	$24,450	1.5%
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations	14,750	6.8%	.82	$12.93	$14.24	$29,630	2.7%
Personal Care and Service Occupations	11,870	5.9%	1.00	$12.20	$14.38	$29,910	2.9%
Sales and Related Occupations	52,650	2.7%	.91	$14.07	$20.35	$42,320	2.0%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	88,230	2.9%	1.08	$17.75	$18.92	$39,350	0.7%
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations	520	18.1%	.24	$14.56	$16.08	$33,450	3.3%
Construction and Extraction Occupations	21,940	3.4%	.84	$23.35	$24.83	$51,650	1.9%
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations	25,730	3.6%	1.06	$22.68	$24.14	$50,210	2.2%
Production Occupations	58,540	7.3%	1.55	$19.18	$20.70	$43,060	3.5%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	83,910	4.3%	1.56	$16.17	$20.49	$42,630	9.0%

Source: U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2020,

Updated April 2021

Employment Trends by Industry for Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area

Industry	2020 June	2019 Annual	2018 Annual	2017 Annual
Total Non-Farm	616,500	675,200	672,900	666,500
Mining, Logging & Construction	28,800	29,700	29,900	28,800
Trade, Transportation & Utilities	141,900	150,000	149,600	147,200
Manufacturing	77,900	83,000	82,700	81,900
Information	8,100	9,100	9,200	9,300
Financial Activities	43,400	49,800	46,100	46,600
Professional & Business Services	81,000	87,600	87,400	86,100
Education & Health Services	84,600	99,100	97,500	96,000
Leisure & Hospitality	60,500	70,300	69,600	69,400
Other Services	24,400	25,400	25,800	26,400
Government	65,900	74,100	75,200	74,900

Source: U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Annual Averages

https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.ky_louisville_msa.htm/

Updated Sept. 2020

15-County Greater Louisville Region Ethnic Composition

Ethnic Origin	2000	2018 (est.)	2019 (est.)	2020 (est.)
White	83.60%	79.23%	79.95%	78.56%
Black/ African American	13.88%	13.98%	14.10%	14.17%
Hispanic or Latino	1.01%	4.74%	4.83%	5.18%
Asian	1.15%	2.02%	2.08%	2.18%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.21%	.25%	.27%	.25%

Source: Environics Analytics, Claritas 2020

Greater Louisville Region Household Data

County	2000	2010	2019 (est.)	2020 (est.)
Bullitt (KY)	22,173	27,673	30,892	31,235
Clark (IN)	38,752	44,248	47,611	47,643
Floyd (IN)	27,509	29,479	31,055	31,470
Harrison (IN)	12,918	15,192	15,749	16,014
Henry (KY)	5,844	5,963	6,266	6,194
Jefferson (KY)	287,011	309,175	324,912	323,786
Oldham (KY)	14,856	19,431	21,688	21,782
Scott (IN)	8,823	9,397	9,384	9,379
Shelby (KY)	12,103	15,321	17,729	18,165
Spencer (KY)	4,251	6,165	6,803	6,914
Trimble (KY)	3,137	3,420	3,295	3,281
Washington (IN)	10,264	10,850	10,771	10,850
12 County Louisville MSA	447,650	496,314	526,155	526,713
Hardin (KY)	34,497	39,853	41,543	42,818
Meade (KY)	9,471	10,471	10,377	10,726
Nelson (KY)	13,954	16,826	18,181	18,267
15 County Advance Greater Louisville Region	505,572	563,464	596,256	598,524

Source: Environics Analytics, Claritas 2020

15-County Greater Louisville Region Income

Income	2000	2018 (est.)	2019 (est.)	2020 (est.)
Median household income	$42,139	$57,139	$58,150	$62,006
Average household income	$55,699	$77,401	$79,980	$84,903

Source: Environics Analytics, Claritas 2020

Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area Workforce Statistics

	1990¹	2000²	2010³	2019⁴	2020 -June⁴
Civilian Workforce	549,884	610,050	636,946	675,635	644,127
Employed	521,646	588,122	571,183	650,031	602,540
Unemployed	28,238	21,928	62,692	25,604	41,587
Unemployment Rate	5.1%	3.6%	10.3%	3.8%	6.5%

¹In 1990, the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area was defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget to include the following counties: Bullitt, Jefferson, Oldham and Shelby counties in Kentucky and Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties in Indiana.

²In 1993, the Federal Office of Management and Budget revised the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area to include the following counties: Bullitt, Jefferson and Oldham counties in Kentucky; Clark, Floyd, Harrison and Scott counties in Indiana.

³In 2009, the Federal Office of Management and Budget revised the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area to include the following counties: Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer and Trimble counties in Kentucky; Clark, Floyd, Harrison and Washington counties in Indiana.

⁴In 2013, the Federal Office of Management and Budget revised the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area to include the following counties: Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer and Trimble counties in Kentucky; Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott and Washington counties in Indiana.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/lau/metrossa.htm

Updated Sept. 2020

Cost of Living

MSA	Overall	Grocery	Housing	Utilities	Transportation	Healthcare	Miscellaneous
Louisville	94.1	92.3	78.1	96.2	103.1	95.3	104.5
Austin	101.8	92.2	109.8	95.0	89.6	108.6	103.2
Cincinnati	93.3	95.1	79.9	88.1	106.9	99.5	100.4
Columbus	91.3	98.1	82.6	85.8	100.4	93.9	94.3
Indianapolis	91.1	93.3	79.2	101.9	91.5	87.1	97.2
Memphis	84.9	88.7	74.1	89.2	85.6	80.9	91.2
Nashville	96.6	100.2	92.3	92.7	94.6	95.3	100.2
Omaha	93.6	98.5	86.2	95.6	95.1	94.8	96.4
Pittsburgh	104.0	109.0	103.0	116.6	117.3	95.6	97.1
Portland	133.7	112.6	181.3	89.1	129.2	116.3	119.6
Raleigh	96.9	91.1	92.1	97.8	93.6	104.6	102.7

Source: C2ER 2020, annual average

Updated July 2021

Cost of Doing Business

With its pro-business attitude, low cost of doing business and low taxes, Greater Louisville offers a supportive and progressive climate for business. The region's dynamic, diversified economy has out-performed the U.S. in job and income growth on a per capita basis throughout the last decade.

Look at how low Louisville's business costs are in comparison with other cities:

MSA	Overall Cost	Labor	Office Rent	Energy	Taxes
Louisville	87.9	96.6	62.8	91.2	93.0
Atlanta	89.5	94.3	84.3	87.4	80.4
Austin	99.7	91.3	125.5	99.4	79.6
Baltimore	108.6	101.7	104.0	133.0	79.8
Boston	107.3	100.9	101.8	128.2	90.2
Charlotte	85.4	91.8	80.6	77.4	85.7
Chicago	98.6	100.0	101.7	89.6	91.9
Columbus	97.8	93.0	81.6	118.1	104.2
Dallas	94.2	93.4	95.3	99.4	79.6
Denver	101.0	112.7	96.6	90.9	71.5
Greenville	90.9	106.1	66.5	84.3	85.7
Indianapolis	90.9	87.5	66.1	114.7	101.6
Los Angeles	117.6	100.4	143.2	139.5	96.8
Memphis	88.4	98.0	63.4	95.1	74.1
Nashville	95.4	93.8	104.7	97.6	69.4
New York	154.1	92.8	270.3	203.3	123.5
Omaha	88.9	96.3	74.6	86.4	92.1
Pittsburgh	98.1	88.1	80.5	131.3	97.5
Portland	100.7	101.7	113.8	90.7	91.2
Salt Lake City	91.6	99.8	82.9	83.1	93.6
St. Louis	91.7	101.8	79.6	86.3	78.8
Washington, DC	109.9	104.0	141.2	78.7	87.0

Source: North American Business Cost Review, 2020

Updated March 2021